Brilliance of Reading
by xOhxSnapx
Summary: Marauder Era. James and Lily are bickering as usual. However, they get quite a shock when a boy who looks very much like James just happens to drop in. The plot comes together as the story goes on. AU. R
1. Chapter 1

This was written a while ago as a post at an RPG, so if it seems kinda confusing it's because it was written by three different people. Every few paragraphs will be written by one person/character, and the next few will be there other person/character responding. My friend played Lily, my other friend played Harry, and I played James. As of now, it's a one shot AU fic.

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James grinned. School had started again which meant that he was free from the watchful eyes of his parents. He had felt more cooped up this year than the last, though it was probably just him. Perhaps it was because his mother had constant been trying to straighten out his hair even when he and his father told her it was a pointless thing to do. Everything she had tried failed - mostly due to the fact that James found a way to undo it in the end, with a girl on his face and laughter in his heart.

Between the time James had spent in the house and sending owls off to various people, he found a vast amount of time to fool around like a muggle. Of course, both his parents found his antics a little strange, albeit that he meant no harm to muggles, he just found them strange and amusing, and was told by many at Hogwarts that he acted most like a muggle. With that finally said the boy threw himself onto one of the couches in the Gryffindor common room with a Charms book in hand.

He listened idly to the chatter that flew about the common room and couldn't help but to grin as he opened his book, of course, he wasn't about to actually read it just yet. Ha, he was merely looking at the words, and the illustrations within the book, trying to memorize the different motions of the arm, and the flick of the wrist. Well, he wasn't actually trying to memorize the as much as he was just trying to make himself look well - busy as he was toying with the many possibilities that could be done this year. He suppressed his grin from widening further, Merlin only knows what people would be thinking if that saw James Potter grinning while reading a book.

A book which title he hadn't yet looked at, he only knew that it was a Charms book simply because on the spine of the book it read in clear, bold gold letters: **_CHARMS_**. Well, fancy that, may be that was the title of the book. Bit silly really. Why would there be a book called _Charms_? Why not _Charms For the Everyday Wizard or Witch_? Now James was just thinking too hard.

"Bloody brilliant," James mused lightly to himself randomly as his eyes actually skimmed a page, and he read a full paragraph with out skipping a word. Oh, mother would be proud. Again, he stopped his grin from widening. There had to be something seriously wrong with this boy, else he was just like that all the time.

No, no. He was only like this well - wait. No. He was _always_ like this.

Most were excited that school had once again begun for another year, though Lily was one of the few that weren't entirely so. Sure, she was glad to be able to get away from her elder sister, whom spent the whole summer trying to ruin every moment of it for Lily. However, with school brought more work for Lily as well. It was no surprise that she held a book in her hand, as she made her way out of her dorm room. She needed to be prepared for the coming lessons if she intended to keep the top marks she normally got.

She made her way down the stairs which lead to her house common room, only to find the person she least wanted to see sitting on one of the couches surrounding the fireplace. She couldn't help but let out a frustrated sigh as the boy's messy black hair came into focus, causing her to rethink what she would do. It would be easier to simply make way for the door and go study in the library. No, she would stand her ground, and demand that he were the one to leave from the place she normally read. What could he possibly be doing anyways?

As she neared the boy, her eyebrow shot up as she saw what he happened to be doing. Reading. What a foreign concept for someone such as himself. She couldn't help but let out a chuckle of disbelief, knowing that he was either not even reading the words on the page, or perhaps using the paper for a piece of scrap. Oh merlin, she only wished that she happened to have a camera so she could take a picture of this moment in time. She got close enough to hear him mumble to himself, though not loud enough that she could even make out the words he said.

"Talking to yourself again Potter?" She asked from behind him, only making her presence known then. She looked at him with annoyance, being that he was sitting on the couch she had intended to sit on. However, there was no chance that she would actually share the thing with the boy, and gracefully sat down in the one next to it. "But then again, what should I have expected from you," she commented bitterly. It was obvious she and him weren't exactly best friends, or even friends in the least.

"Since when have you taken on the hobby of actually looking at your textbooks?" She questioned as she gently placed her own textbook on her lap. "I didn't actually think that you even knew how to." She let a smug look cross her face as she said so.

It wasn't _that_ uncommon for James to have a book in his hands. It was just uncommon that he would actually be reading said book. Which would why, at that very moment, happened to seem like one of those once in a life time type of things, he was sure. He highly doubted that it would happen again anytime soon - or so he hoped, well, outside of class anyway. While in class, he actually had to pay attention. Best way to keep all focus off of himself unless he wanted some attention. Well, actually just make a scene, but then again making a scene also caused him, or whoever made the scene to get attention.

Funny how those things worked.

Still, as James sat there, his eyes seemingly glued to the book, he hadn't bothered a glance around the common room, which was also rather unlike him. The pictures within the book completely had his eye. He was listening, however, to the sounds of people chatting in the background, of how they thought this year would turn out. James thought it would be just like the rest. Boring, with a pinch of mischief on the Marauders half. What else could be expected of him? He lived for a good joke, and just to cause mischief, it was like what he was raised to do. Only not.

And here his mother had told him to try and keep out of trouble this year. She didn't want another owl saying that her son had turned a Slytherin fourth years hair a disgusting shade of green, when the natural hair color was blonde. It wasn't that much of a change! Besides, it looked rather smashing if you asked James. Of course, he couldn't stop grinning about that for hours after it had happened, even during the summer when he had been lectured on it, and why he shouldn't have done such a thing. He had just done his best to look as innocent as possible while grinning. It hardly worked.

Sighing dramatically James lowered his book a little to look up, even though he knew the voice rather well. How could he not? "Of course not, Evans," the boy said as he glanced up at the redheaded girl. "I knew you were there all along, didn't you know?" James asked sarcastically as he brought up the book once more, flipping the page letting his eyes scan the text quickly without reading a word before he glanced at the pictures. Yes, the two of them were almost anything but friends, and James took great pleasure in toying with the girl. It was fun to him to see her all bothered.

"Oh, I'm hurt, Evans, really." James said lowering the book with his left hand to place a hand over his heart dramatically. "It pains me to know that you think so little of me," he said before lowering his right hand, a smug looking grin now playing across his lips. Oh, he loved his. And to think, he actually missed this, talking with Lily like he did. Strange that.

She wasn't surprised that a dramatic sigh escaped the boy's lips in front of her, it was such a typical Potter behavior. She also shouldn't have been surprised when he looked up towards him, being that she knew she wasn't the only one that normally threw the insults at the boy. It went both ways. Since their first year on the train coming to Hogwarts, where she had literally bashed right into the boy, which had caused her whole entire trunk to go flying, it seemed like the insults never did stop. It was something they were known for, and Lily was surely never going to allow him to get the last laugh.

She pursed her lips as the boy lied, or so she guessed it was a lie. "Really?" She asked with an air of annoyance about her tone. "Well then Potter, you would make a fabulous actor, being that you surely fooled me," she said to him, though it came out no more then an insult, even if it would seem like those words would be used as a mere compliment. Lily wasn't about to make the boy's head any bigger then it already was. She hardly knew how he could fit it through the door leading into the common room, being the arrogant prick that he was.

"And I honestly thought you were extremely into whatever you happen to be reading," she added with a slight pause at the end. "Yet, my mistake. I really should have remembered this was James Potter I was thinking about." She wouldn't have been surprised if he never had read a word of the book in front of him, but she was almost positively certain that he hadn't known she had been there the entire time.

She let out a cold chuckle, rolling her eyes in the process. Really, she was a sweetheart, yet when it came to James Potter her stubborn flare and temper took control of her actions. "I'm sure it hurts Potter," she said, before flipping her own book open. She turned to the page that she had ended at, though she didn't continue to read right away. She lifted her eyes off the book and back onto the boy in front of her. "Honestly, don't you have anywhere better to be? Why don't you run along and go be the annoying prick you are somewhere else?" She suggested. Sure, he had been here first, but he was doing no good anymore. All he was doing was causing trouble, and he could easily do that with his little group of boy's somewhere else.

The boy could only grin. Oh, he was quite used to hearing insults from that girl, he'd been getting them from her ever since they first met. He swore that she should have been placed into Slytherin, and cursed when she hadn't been. It was a crying shame. Nevertheless, with the two of the in the same house for the past five years, going on their sixth, the insults had yet to stop flying, and James was very determined to have the last say as well as the last laugh. Well, that and the possibility of a date, but then that was just the teenage boy in him right there. He was a show off for most of the girls at Hogwarts as it was.

"Flattered, really," James replied coyly, batting his eyelashes mockingly, however he couldn't help but to run a hand through his mess of hair, only further ruffling it. People who knew him well enough would probably have rolled their eyes at that action. It was sort of his way of saying 'Does my hair look alright?' without actually saying, or fixing it. The bed head look was his, and it had claimed him at a young age, and he rather liked it, never mind what people often thought of him because of it. After all, everyone had their own style. James' happened to be his messy hair.

James smirked. Snapping his book shut he tossed it lightly onto the small table in-between the two couches and folded his arms behind his head, relaxing as he sat there. "Of course, the one and only," James said, arching his eyebrows as he glanced at the girl across from him. "I'd bow but my arse is perfectly comfortable where it is, and would rather not get up for such a task." As he said this James had actually looked over and down towards his bottom and gave a small shrug before continuing to smirk. James, James. "I was into what I was reading - if you count the pictures, that is."

The boy snorted. "I, Evans, have every right to be here, as you do," James said, bringing his arms from behind his head to rest on his knees as he lent forward, glancing at the redhead before him from behind his glasses before he lent back in his seat once more, glancing idly around the common room, grinning every once and a while. "Besides, if you hadn't said anything I wouldn't have been the 'annoying prick' that I am." He was hardly doing a thing. He hadn't done a thing yet. So far all he had done was responded to the girl before him, there was no harm in that, was there? James gave a small huff as he looked upward, to the ceiling, half tempted to start humming, just to further annoy the girl.

A frown lay firmly on her lips, whereas all he could seem to have on his own was a grin. She had seen it many times before, the same grin that seemed to frustrate her to know end. She felt her cheeks burn the slight color of pink, annoyance boiling inside her. What gave him the right to do nothing but grin at her? It made her feel like her words weren't having the slightest influence on him, and that didn't make her the slightest bit happy. It was her goal to make him suffer, the way he seemed to make many other students do with him and his best friend Sirius taunting them. Yet, time and time again all she got in return happened to be a grin.

She could only groan at this. "Potter, the comment wasn't meant to be a compliment. Anything but," she stated. She watched in disgust as he ran a hand through his hair, something that caught the attention of many girls in their school. She really didn't understand why he felt the need to mess up his already messy hair, or why it seemed to attract the attention of so many girls. She was glad that it didn't have that kind of effect over her, but really, when would James of all people have that kind of effect over her.

"I really don't think you could do any more damage to that mess of stuff you happen to call hair," she said flatly, her eyes shifting from his face, towards his hair, then back towards his face. She had known him to do it since they first met, some probably even called it his 'signature' look. It was old in her own opinion. She was snapped out of her thoughts as the book in his hands was firmly closed, and tossed onto the table in front of her. She didn't understand how he could do just a thing to a valuable book.

She shook her head at him, as he seemed to get comfortable where he happened to be sitting. It seemed like there would be no luck that he would be moving anytime soon, a tragedy in Lily's case. "Ah, so you were into what you were reading?" She asked, but didn't allow him time to respond. He really had just said the answer to her question anyways. "So you didn't actually know I was behind you the whole time, being that you couldn't have if you were 'into' what you were reading," she finished, before a proud smirk came to her lips. Finally, she had proved him wrong, and there happened to be no way he could defend himself.

A frown covered her lips once again. He wasn't going anywhere, and considering all her dreadful 5'3" body couldn't very well push him away. He would stay as long as he liked, and seeing as how it would annoy Lily to a great extent, he probably didn't intend on moving either. She watched him silently as he leaded forward, as though to inspect her. She didn't like the close proximity he was putting her at, and she simply leaned back into the chair.

She let out a frustrated sigh, before opening the book once again to the page she had finished at. She still didn't continue to read, and glanced up from the page once more. "Honestly Potter, I doubt you wouldn't have said anything rude or obnoxious if I simply sat down here and read without speaking a word to you," she stated with anger, before finally silencing herself and beginning to read. It was a few moments of complete silence that she finally looked up once more, to find the boy still there. "Are you sure you don't have anywhere to go?" She asked with hope, but she knew the answer pretty much already.

Don't get mad, get glad. Don't get glad, get even. Don't get even, get mad. That was exactly how James' mind worked, and that was the only reason he seemed to always be grinning while sharing insults with Lily. He didn't know why he always found himself grinning around her when they started to bicker. It was just something of a second nature, he supposed. Besides, it was always a funny thing to see just how - bothered he could get the Gryffindor girl get. It was all innocent fun! Besides, the words she said did effect him, of course they just drove him to grin more and more.

James simply rolled his eyes. "I was being sarcastic, Evans. I thought You would have known that," he said with a shrug of his shoulders. It was hardly like James was trying to get Lily's attention, he just ran a hand through his hair as a sort of an impulse. It was a guy thing. Though he probably got the habit from hanging around Sirius as much as he did in his younger years at Hogwarts. Even if the two of them really weren't much of friends in their first. But they got on well enough.

"At least I can call mine hair." James said shortly, his eyes still on the ceiling before his eyes drifted over to the girl, studying her for a moment. Or rather her hair. He couldn't help but grin again. Yes. He had been the same way about his hair for as long as he could remember. Which wasn't saying much for the young Potter. Then again he also let on like he was quite the stupid, show off-y boy that most people saw him as. He just had his reasons for the things that he does. Or so he thought.

James just often times confused himself, if not others. Hopefully more the latter.

Looking back to Lily who say just across from him, James smirked. "Don't hurt yourself there, Evans," He said just before standing up, taking his book with him. He stretched for a brief moment before walking to a near by table and taking a seat in it. Of course, he turned the chair around so that the back of it was facing the table so that he could lean back in it without falling backwards. Again, he opened his book, however to some random page. A slight pout crossed his face has he realized that there wasn't a picture on the page and he quickly flipped to the next, grinning as there was a picture.

Oh yes, James Potter could seem like such the five year old. But what more could be expected. His parents had never yet told him to grow up, only to behave. Probably not the smartest thing on their halves.

"Ouch," James said, looking up at the girl once more from over the top of his book. "Oh, c'mon now, Evans, you've never actually gave that one a try, have you?" He continued, managing to hold back his grin, however not for long. He was loving this, really he was. And it wasn't really quite like him because if you noticed he was beginning to back down slightly. He did move away from the girl after all, didn't he? That had to be some sort of sign, unless he had gotten tired of sitting on the couch and just needed a change of seat, which very well could have been the reason.

"But Lily," James started in an annoyingly fake whine. "I just love these lovely chats of ours!" He said, a bit of his grin coming through. Right. So much for backing down a bit. He shrugged as he glanced back to his book where he, gasp, actually began to read once again, and not look at the pictures. "Seriously though," he continued, his voice void of any mockery, sarcasm, or anything of the sort. "Not at the moment. At least, not until they decide to unlock the broom shed that is," James finished with a small sigh. He felt cooped up - no matter where he went at the moment. He couldn't go fly his broom yet. The she was locked until next week. And Sirius was no where in sight…. Neither were the rest of the Marauders for that matter.

Lily simply ignored the comment, and went back to reading. She wasn't going to waste her energy on him of all people, most defiantly when he acted this way. He had a way of getting her all bothered, a way no one else seemed to get to her. Sure, his dear best friend Sirius Black had a tendency to do as well, but not to such an extent. He simply knew the buttons to push to make her angry, and push he did. She tried hard not to listen to his rude and annoying comments, but it never worked. He knew this too, sadly because she couldn't hide her emotions when with him. Damn him was all she happened to think.

Just as she previously thought, he knew exactly what button to press. It wasn't obvious to others that Lily was self-conscious about her looks, mostly because she did happen to be one of the few students in school that held such red hair and vibrant green eyes. Also, it didn't help that her sister had constantly made fun of the way she looked since her childhood, being that Petunia held only plain brown hair and eyes to match. However, even though his words twisted her inside, she didn't let herself go this time. She wasn't going to let him have the privilege of seeing her angry because of it, not with that silly little grin still on his lips.

"Potter, I would hardly call yours hair," she replied sharply, before dropping her eyes back down onto the book. He was an arrogant little rude boy; one that she could hardly believe could be sorted into Gryffindor. She felt that he would be much better suited for Slytherin, being the troublemaker him and his friends happened to be.

She shot her eyes up once more, her cheeks reddening slightly. The nerve of the boy, he really wasn't about ready to leave her alone. It didn't help that his grin resurfaced, after only a few moments of it being controlled by the boy. "What are you grinning at Potter?" She asked sternly, not wanting to loose her temper. No, that wouldn't be good at all.

She glanced up from her book, and glared at the boy. His whiny voice was enough to make her want to scream, and defiantly make her want him to leave even more so. She hadn't intended on that to be his answer, though she shouldn't have been that surprised. It seemed like he would rather make her life hell then go and do something other then that for once. With his friends nowhere in sight, she should have known that he wouldn't have simply shrugged, got up and left for somewhere else. This was James Potter.

Her expression softened slightly, yet only very slightly. It seemed as though his words were filled with nothing but truth, even though she wished it wasn't what he had said. She cursed the broom sheds for not being open, because if they were, they wouldn't be having the conversation they happened to be having at the current moment. Then an idea came to her mind, though she wasn't exactly proud of it. However, if it helped get rid of the boy so she could get some peace and read, then she would suggest whatever it took.

A grin came to her lips, one that only suggested that a brilliant plan came to her mind. "Honestly Potter, when have you of all people gone along with the rules. You do have a wand, one that could possibly open the broom shed," she said, but was slightly ashamed of herself. She was a prefect, having only just gotten to be one that year. Yet, if it got the annoying boy away from her, it was worth it, right?

James grinned all the more. Oh, he loved this. You'd actually start to think that this was all just some sort of game for the boy, and that it would never end. The thing was; Lily was the only girl James did this to. The Slytherin girls got it far worse than this, and girls form other houses and his own only got a light tease from the boy. James, it seemed, had it in for the poor redhead. And it was true. James Potter was infatuated with Lily Evans, of course he would never admit to such a thing, but it was true - and he knew that he would probably get an earful from the Marauders about it as well. It was a wonder that they hadn't caught on, the signs were all there.

"At least people know mine is real," James replied brightly through a grin, though he didn't bother looking up again. He knew she was getting angry with him. He was managed to do that with her. And he loved it. She just looked cute when she was all worked up and bothered over something that he had said or done to her, however he expected that Lily would die had she ever heard him say that about her, that or hex him dead. Probably the latter of the two.

He never stopped grinning. He just continued to look at Lily after she said that for a moment. He really should stop this little game that had been going on since their first year. But really it was just too hard for the boy to stop such a thing. "You tell me, Evans," James answered coolly, leaning back in his chair some more, book still in hand.

When Lily had sent him a glare James almost fell over laughing. Instead he turned the page in his book, and visibly paled. In the top corner of both pages that were facing him the initials L.E. were glaring up at in circled by a heart. He choked for a moment silently before casting a quick glance at the girl just a few feet from him before quickly turning the page, fumbling a bit in doing so. Oh, Merlin, he was such the teenage boy.

"Give me a spell that'll lift the magic lock placed on it and I'll be on my merry way," James said plainly, looking up over his book to Lily once more before becoming engrossed with the text for once, and for a few moments, he had gone completely silent, and it was clear that he was actually reading, albeit the fact that it was something he had learned in first year. He was reading all the same. It was just one of those rare moments.

The red tinge of her cheeks didn't dim any at his next comment, only did it get brighter. She cursed herself for having the genes that made her cheeks flush much easier then most. She had enough of the teasing directed to her hair, being that his comment was completely true. She couldn't even count all the times that people have asked her if red happened to be her natural hair color, each time only getting a firm response from her that it was indeed. Sure, redheads were rare, but it wasn't as though she had put a spell on it to turn that color. She had never really liked standing out so much with her vibrant red hair, though over time had learnt to deal with it, but she wouldn't have chosen this for herself.

"At least my hair isn't a boring black like yours happens to be," she snapped. Yes, Lily Evans was sensitive when it came to her looks, being one of the many reasons that her elder sister had tormented her in her youth. Not only in did her sister do so, but all her sisters elder friends joined in as well. Many horrible memories were left for Lily to suffer, though she learnt only to grow from the experiences and become stronger. "And, at least mine is easy to tame," she added quickly, a smirk covering her lips. It was true, hers did fall perfectly straight onto her shoulders, that was until she did end up getting it wet. But even then it only had curls in it.

"I wouldn't have asked if I knew Potter," Lily said with frustration. Really, if she had known the answer as to why he feels the need to grin at her, then would she have asked? Of course not. Lily didn't like coming off as stupid, and if she had known the answer, she wouldn't have asked it. As far as she knew, he simply did it to get under her skin, and make her want to smack the thing off his lips the moment it appeared. That really was the only real reason in her own opinion.

Lost in her own thoughts, she hadn't even noticed the boy pale before her, and quickly glance in her direction. If she had, she would have only guessed he had caught the flu or anything of that sort. She caught sight of him fumbling with his pages, but she knew he probably had only found a page with no pictures, and was eager to find one with pages. Honestly, James was such a teenage boy. But she guessed they all happened to be. Girls did mature faster then boys.

She paled slightly at that, knowing that she wouldn't be able to do such a thing. Telling him to break the rules was one thing, but breaking the rules herself was another. She couldn't simply tell him how to unlock it, even though she could probably think of a few off the top of her head. She was a prefect after all, and telling him to do something like that was almost bad enough. She decided to let her suggestion pass, and ignore his own. She was in no way going to end up getting her prefect privileges taken away because she simply wanted to boy to leave her some peace.

She soon caught that he was actually reading, at least she thought he happened to be, considering his eyes moved across the letters and he simply wasn't staring at the pictures anymore. "Really, I need a camera to take a picture of this," she teased, yet not as mean as she had been.

Almost as if to see what she was talking about, James pulled down a bit of his hair so that he could just barely see it. His eyes crosses as he attempted to look at it, and he ended up furrowing his brows. He liked his hair. He got it from his dad, whom his mum told him he took after, of course he didn't believe her. And being a boy, he was never that worried about his looks, even if his hair did stick out in every direction. Though there were times when he would charm his hair a dark shade of brown just for the fun of it. It would only last an hour, but that was enough for him.

"Hey, hey now, be nice, be nice," James said quickly, glancing about the room, almost prying nobody saw them talking. Well, bickering. Though James didn't mind his hair being talked about he did mind, in a sense. "I happen to like my hair, thank you. I get it from my dad," he said, a pout slowly filtering across his face. Though he quickly got rid of it. After all, he couldn't be seen pouting around the girl, could he? Oh, Merlin. Something was wrong with him.

"Bugger," the boy sighed. "And I was hoping that you would know, too." James said, shaking his head, acting as if he didn't know the reason as to why he had been grinning. It was funny, the way he could change his perspectives. From knowing what he was doing, to not knowing, and then to wondering. Of course he knew all along why he had been grinning - though he wasn't about to come out and tell her that the reason why was because that she looked cute when she was mad. Until then, he did it just to get under her skin.

And if you asked James, he did a good job of it, too. He was privately glad, however, that she didn't see him pale or glance over his shoulder for that matter. God knows that he would simply have died. Poor James. The teen years weren't so great for him - but then again, they were. In a sense that is.

At that James wrinkled his nose, looking up shortly before glancing back down to the book and turning the page. Again, he was glad that he was no longer right across from the girl; a light pink had spread across his cheeks. In the corner of the pages he had just turned to held another heart around the initials L.E.. Either James had been extremely bored, or he really did have it in for Lily. Possibly both. He did did his best to ignore that heart and continued to read.

"I read," James grumbled, "Just not all the time."

Lily's eyebrow shot up as the words left his mouth. It would seem as though he were a little sensitive when the subject turned to his own hair. She couldn't have been more pleased to hear this, and not solely because she had finally been able to hit a button of his. She finally felt like she wasn't alone, though she wouldn't dare let herself say that out loud. She was having a hard time even admitting to herself that she was happy that her and James Potter happened to be in the same boat for something.

"Someone's sure sensitive about his hair," she muttered under her breath. Hypocrite much on her part, considering she too was slightly sensitive on the subject if directed to herself. That didn't stop her from pointing it out anyways. It had always been something that came easily to her, having been able to point out her own faults quite easily as well.

"Potter, last time I checked I couldn't read minds," she said in a rude manner. The last thing she felt like doing was having a nice little chat with the boy she loathed to no end. All she had wanted to do was sit in silence and read her book. She really regretted even coming down, knowing that she would have been safer in the security of her own room. Shame she hadn't thought of the possibility of running into an annoyance. It just so happened the annoyance was James Potter himself.

Though, she had to admit he wasn't nearly as bad when he was with his group of friends. Oh, they were positively dreadful together. All four of them. Yet she really didn't mind Remus Lupin in the least, him being the only one that seemed to cause the less trouble.

She raised her eyebrow at the statement made from the boy in front of her. If she were actually observing the boy closely in front of her, she'd see the light pink color that had spread onto his cheeks. Thankfully, the last thing she wanted to do was stare at the boys face. She knew that would have either busted his already engulfed ego, or caused for more ridicule her way. Not that she even felt the need to look at him.

"I'm sure you do Potter," she replied shortly after the comment was made. "Just like I cause trouble, just not all the time…" It was obvious sarcasm that came from her mouth, though really, what would others expect. She didn't feel the need to be nice to those that hardly showed the same in return.

James sat there, grumbling quietly to himself. He didn't quite like the fact that Lily now knew one area he was sensitive about, even though it really shouldn't have. That very fact was going to bother him like nothing else for the rest of the day, he hadn't even begun to put two and two together and realize that the two of them were both on the same page about their hair. He was simply fuming over the fact that she had managed to get under his skin; something that Slytherin only ever did. He would congratulate, if he wasn't worried about that boosting _her_ ego.

"Bloody bird," he muttered quietly to himself looking back at the book he was holding. It wasn't as if he couldn't get off of the subject, because he could. However, this was one of those…first time experiences for him, and well, he wasn't taking it so well. With something else uttered from under his breath, he ran a hand through his hair absentmindedly.

James sighed rather dramatically. "Evans, last time I checked, you weren't such a stick in the mud," he said with another sigh as he flipped a page in the book. He could go on for hours with this type of 'conversation', even if there was no real one happening. Silence wasn't something that the boy was known for, and probably would never be known for. He was loud, he had an ego, and he really couldn't keep still for the life of him, and by keep still, I mean keep his mouth shut. It was quite obvious that he enjoyed being a complete, and utter annoyance to Lily Evans. He was running on his sixth year of it.

The sad part of it? He was a _guy_. Of course, he was a guy, but all guys got crushes. His happened to be Lily herself. That wasn't quite a safe crush either. He always managed to push one of her buttons at least once a day, if not five times a day. On several occasions, he ended up running for his dear life.

The sixteen year old arched his eyebrows, giving the girl a sideways look before he laughed. He caught the sarcasm that she spoke with, thus his next comment. "Which is why, my dear Lily," James began, snapping his book shut for the effect. "You are such a stiff," he finished, unable to hold back a cheeky smirk. He probably shouldn't have said that exactly, but hey, it was the truth. And his mum was always trying to get him to tell the truth, wasn't she? In any case, he found it truthful. At least to some point.

He probably could have done without making that exact comment, though it was the fist to come out of his mouth. James Potter wasn't exactly known for thinking before he spoke. He was known for thinking after his spoke, and usually ended up diving behind a couch or behind a tree.

"Honestly, Evans, you're not gonna be young forever," he said with a nod of his head, still smirking. "You might as well _try_ to at least live a little, and have some fun."

She ignored the comment; opening her book once more and flipping to the page she had almost finished up reading. What right did he have to make such a statement? He didn't know her any better then he knew how to read. The only things he knew about her were mostly assumptions, or things he had heard from others. The two had never really gotten along long enough to have a decent conversation to really get to know the other.

And that was her last straw. To think he could just continue on with the verbal abuse and she'd simply sit back and take it was a laugh. Silently she got up from her seat, a livid look written across her face. Her face was practically red with anger, much like the color of her hair. Without thinking twice, she slammed her book down onto the table he had placed himself at, trying hard to make as much of a racket as she possibly could. The boy had pushed far too many buttons for her liking, and she wouldn't stand it any longer.

Oh did she have a temper, she did happen to be a redhead after all.

"For your information Potter, one can have fun without breaking all the school rules possible," she stated with a forceful tone to her voice. She reached across the table, snatching the stupid book that had caused the whole conversation from his grasp. Not even giving a glance at the page he had been reading, lucky for James, she once again slammed the book forcefully on the table on top of her own. She wanted to reach out her hands and strangle the boy then and there, but knew that would most definitely be frowned upon when she was suppose to be setting a mature example for the other students.

"And you are most definitely not one to be talking as though you know me in any way," she snapped at him, glaring at him as though wishing the floor would open up and swallow him whole. Oh if only such things were possible, then life would be good. "And really, we are far from acquaintances." She finished, almost shouting the words at him. She would not let him use her as his little puppet, doing and saying what he pleased, just waiting to see which strings to pull to make her squirm.

Oh, no. James didn't think he'd could continue with the verbal abuse, and not expect her to take it all as a type of joke. He wanted to get her mad. He said everything that he had no right to say, and he did it all on purpose. People often thought of him as big headed, a _leader_ of a group of mischief makers, and a royal pain in the arse. However, when it came to Lily? She just happened to get down to the hard, cold truth. And that had happened upon their first meeting on the Hogwarts Express back at the beginning of their first year. From the words of "Did someone jinx your hair?" to "Ever hear of a brush?" The insults just continued to come, back and forth, with no stop. James had even thought, and still thinks, that the red head should have been placed into Slytherin. The amazing thing? He had almost been placed there because of the things he was thinking at the time.

The boy jumped up and out of his chair when the girl slammed her book down on the table. His eyebrows arched instantly, and he knew right there that she was right ticked with him. He would have made some crack about her face now matching the color of her hair, but didn't want to risk the chance of being strangled by the girl. As most people in the Gryffindor house knew? Lily Evans was the only girl, within Hogwarts, that scared James.

Which may have been the reason he liked her so much.

"Whoa," James blurted just as the book was snatched from his hands. There was a fleeting moment of panic, where he swore his heart did a flip, and stop for a total of a second. Luckily for him, Lily didn't read the page he had been on. If she had, oh, Merlin only knows what would have happened if she had. There was even the likely way that he would have gotten strangled, if not slapped. "Oh, that I know, Evans," James managed to snicker. "One doesn't become a total rule breaker from already being a total rule breaker," he said, eyeing the girl carefully.

No sudden movements, Potter. The boy told himself.

"Oh, look who's talking," he snapped back. He had her right there, and he knew he did. "'Since when have you taken on the hobby of actually looking at your textbooks? I didn't actually think that you even knew how to.'" He mocked harshly, glaring back at the girl before he made a grab for his book. "Maybe I should have broken into the broom shed," he boy grumbled to himself, before the girl started shouting again. "Well, really, if we are far from acquaintances, then - by Merlin's white beard, did you even bother to say a thing when you came in here?" James shouted back, louder, drawing more attention to the two of them.

Harry had a hard time concentrating on anything, of late, and it's not as if he actually wanted to. It was far too tempting to strike out in search of the Marauders and examine the infamous Gryffindor team, perhaps even become a part of it. Despite the dire warnings from others (mostly Hermione, of course) that interfering with the past when he had absolutely no idea how they'd got there in the first place was probably a bad idea, he couldn't help his thoughts from drifting. And charms homework simply did not seem as interesting when he had an entire past to uncover. More than once, as he flipped through the pages in his charms text, he found himself nearly falling asleep. It wasn't even that late, yet, and if only he knew where Ron was he might actually have had something to do. Something which didn't require reading the same line over and over again in his head, without ever comprehending the meaning of what had been written.

Nobody in the seventh year Gryffindor boy's dorm had anything to say to Harry right now. Not the one lone dreamer who'd fallen asleep and was currently snoring on his four-poster bed with a potions text sprawled open over his chest. Harry set his book down and crawled off his bed, stretching and yawning. He'd had enough of studying, and Hermione wasn't anywhere in sight to force him onward. With a last rather distasteful look around the mostly empty room, Harry started heading downstairs where he might find something more interesting to do. About half way down the steps, though, he heard voices, and angry voices at that. It almost reminded him of Ron and Hermione, and how they bickered so much, only these two sounded much less tolerant towards each other. He flinched when some of the words finally became clear. Though he was sure the voice was _almost_ familiar.

Harry tread the floor carefully from his spot on the stairs to the base, where he could peer around the corner and see a black-haired boy who looked _remarkably_ like him blinking up at a very angry-looking red head. Harry felt a jolt of excitement upon recognizing the two: His parents. Only right now he could not see how they could have possibly ended up together, and what he had seen of them a few times before left absolutely no doubt in his mind. James had no chance with Lily if he didn't change his attitude, and soon. Not that Harry was _too_ worried about that, it just made him wonder what had happened between his parents' sixth and seventh year to make them start dating. Peering around the common room, Harry noticed that those few others in the room had gone back to whatever they had been doing before.

Harry blinked, realizing that he'd just been standing there. Absolutely mortified, he decided to pluck up his famously dubbed 'Gryffindor courage' and do what he'd been planning to do originally. Feeling awkward, he shuffled rather ungracefully into the common room, and then, accidentally of course (and much to his mortification), he stumbled over the rug and nearly fell flat on his face. Fortunately he managed to catch himself with his foot, but _un_fortunately he was not able to prevent a very loud, "Whoa!" from escaping his mouth. He had to catch himself on the arm of the couch, which James had just _barely_ jumped out of to attempt to grab a book from Lily's hands. He felt heat rising to his cheeks, but refused to let his embarrassment make more of a fool out of himself than he'd already presented. "Sorry," he said sheepishly.

She snarled at the boy, who had just said something that made no sense in any context. "I didn't understand a word that just came out of your big mouth," she stated, tapping her foot out of pure annoyance. She really didn't have any more time for this, and could have been doing something useful. Like getting ready for the coming school days, which would be without a doubt filled with quite a fair bit of work.

"Because I knew it would only be a matter of minutes before you did the same, so I wanted to save you the effort," she said, pulling the book away that he made a grab for. She felt like tossing at him really, and would within minutes if the boy didn't smarten up. It didn't help his voice was rising, as was the attention that was being directed at the both of them. Lily had never been one to crave the spotlight, while it seemed to be something James couldn't get enough of. Nor was it a surprise that he'd take any chance he could to humiliate her in front of a large group of people.

Oh she could go on for days about why she disliked the boy so, but she did have reasons for it. It seemed the two were destined to try and make each other's lives miserable from the day they met on the train coming to Hogwarts. Even then there were no kind words of any sort exchanged.

She snapped her head in the direction of a very loud voice, having been so absorbed in the shouts passing between her and her fellow Gryffindor. Yet at the sight of the boy who had only just tripped over, her mouth seemed to almost drop open. Quite unattractively really, yet she couldn't help it. This boy- whom she hadn't seen before, looked so much like James himself.

"Oh god," she began, looking between the unfamiliar boy and James quickly. Twins. They could have easily passed for twins. The horror of the whole situation was a little too much to handle all at once. "There are two of you? And I thought one was hard to deal with," she muttered the last bit underneath her breath. Sure, there were a few differences in the two boys that stood near her, yet they both looked oddly similar it was almost chilling. But perhaps the boy was nothing like James Potter happened to be.

That would be a blessing in her opinion.

James snickered. What he said made perfect sense, to any one who knew him well, that is. He could have been doing something at that very moment; but of course Lily had to be in the common room. For once, he hadn't started the fight, and he was right proud of himself for that too. Between the two of them the smallest "Hello" would turn into a fight. That was just the way that they were. If they could turn a simple "Watch where you're going." into a bicker fest at the age of eleven, they'd be able to turn anything into a fight now. "Well, maybe if you cleaned out your ears you would be able to hear better, and thus be able to understand it better," he replied coolly.

"Oh, so it's got to be like that then, Evans?" James started, glaring at her as she pulled back the book. Really, it was his book to begin with. Women, he didn't understand them, honestly he didn't. One minute they could be all quiet and minding their own business, and then next they turn all smart nosed, which is exactly what Lily had done. There had been a fleeting moment before she had spoken up in the common room where she seemingly was minding her own business. James certainly had been. In fact, he didn't even notice that she had walked in, until she spoke up. "Well, I thank you kindly for saving me the effort of doing something that I wasn't even going to do in the first place."

The sixteen year old crossed his arms over his chest, tilting his head to the side slightly. "Oh, and I'll have you know, that's _my_ book you so kindly snatched," he said arching one of his eyebrows. Really, why was Sirius no where to be found? Had he known where the boy was, he could have been off planning what they were going to be doing on their Hogsmeade trip, even though that was pretty much a given. They did the same thing each and every trip.

James, at first didn't notice the voice of the other boy. He knew that he was there; he just hadn't noticed. What he had noticed was that Lily's mouth had fallen open. "Close your mouth, love, that's not very attractive," he said to her with a snicker before he turned to see just what she was looking at. Needless to say, he took a step back, his eyes going slightly wide as he took in the other boy before him. His mouth too fell open.

"Wha… but…I…eh?" James blinked, still looking at the other boy. It was almost like something out of a crazy dream. It was almost scary; the boy looked exactly like him! Well, not exactly. There were some small differences but none that would be notice right away. However, upon hearing Lily he rolled his eyes. "Yeah, Lils, I cloned myself this summer," he snorted. "Didn't Sirius tell you?" Whatever else he had been about to say, he completely forgot. He just continued to stare at the other boy, his eyebrows furrowed together, almost as if he were thinking hard to try and find an explanation to this.

"Bugger, this is strange," he muttered before he had an idea. James made sure to take a step or two from Lily. Right now the more space between them, the better. And with a smirk on his face he turned to face the boy once more. "Say, mate," he started good naturedly. "Wanna go to my classes for me?" James was lazy, but not that lazy to have some one go in his place. The comment was meant as a joke, however, he knew that Lily wouldn't take it as such, and that was exactly why he said it.


	2. Chapter 2

Foosh. I lied. I couldn't keep it as a one shot. However, theres a little less of Harry in here and more stuff between Lily and James, and yeah. Enjoy! XD

* * *

_"Say, mate. Wanna go to my classes for me?" _

Harry stood there, heat clearly rising in his cheeks, as he looked at the two before him. He kept a hold on the arm of the couch. He knew all too well where he was, and he knew perfectly well that he wasn't alone, either. There were others. It was just a matter of finding them all now. Harry shut his eyes tightly and swallowed thickly before opening his eyes once more. He looked directly at James, making a point to ignore the overly shocked expression on his future mother's face. "S-sorry?" He choked out before wincing. Not only did they look alike, they sounded alike too.

When finally it felt like he had regained his footing, Harry moved away from the couch, and just in time, too. Lily had went and took possession of James' book once more, and slammed it down on the table again. Her face was already matching her hair, and by this point Harry swore that if she were to turn another shade of red she could have passed as a crayon. The red one. He grinned faintly to himself at the thought before he was jerked out of his thoughts by the shouts of a red head and a raven-haired boy.

"….Of all the…"

"….Just messin'…"

"…. Don't even know…"

"Evans!"

"Potter!"

"Lighten up!"

"Um," Harry started to say as he moved around to the front of the couch, looking awkwardly between the two of them. Once again, he winced. He felt another jolt of excitement run through his body. This time, he thought, they aren't a memory. They're real. He knew he shouldn't have been too worried about Lily and James, even as he saw them fight right before his eyes. There was something that was going to happen between this year, and their next and final year that would change everything for them, for that Harry was sure. "Is this a bad time?"

Lily, who had been staring up at the boy whom she had been arguing with for the past - Merlin knows how long - bit her lip and turned to face the James-clone. Well, from what she had seen, which wasn't much, this boy wasn't a think like James Potter. She let out a breath she had didn't realize she had been holding before she went back to looking between the two of them. It was unbelievable. She swore that they were twins! There wasn't a single boy in Hogwarts that looked like James, not one could ever pull off the untidy, bed head look, but this boy did.

The girl continued to stare between the two boys, her eyes scanning each of their faces. There was James, who had a stuck up, self centered, pride filled look on his face, not to mention that half smirk half grin. And then there was the other boy who looked well, confused and shocked. They didn't differ much in height, the other boy being just a bit taller. Their eyes were both a different color; James' hazel, and the new boys were green. Lily wrinkled her nose. They had the same nose, mouth, brow, and cheek structure.

Not that Lily had spent her time studying James' face or anything. They just looked so similar, it was most definitely scary. Only in Hogwarts, she figured.

James took this time to inch toward the table. The last thing that he wanted was Lily getting a hold of his book, and actually flipping through the pages. He swore that he would die if she saw what was written on some of the pages. The thought made his stomach churn. Oh, god, what would Sirius and the others say? Well, no, he could already picture Sirius' face - he'd be on the floor laughing, Remus would be trying to piece it together, and Peter would probably have wet himself with the new information. That was when James noticed it.

He smirked. How could he not. Evans was staring! Oh, this was almost too good. "Evans," James started, snickering ever so slightly - catching the girls' attention. "You're staring. Might not want to make a habit of that in the future, people will think you rude," he finished with just enough time to snatch up his book and quickly dash to the other side of the table, where he knew he would be safe from the redhead. He didn't quite fancy running for his life already. Even so, he'd much rather run for his life with his best friend running with him. "Bugger, where is Sirius?" James muttered to himself, catching the attention of the other boy in the room.

"Wait - wait," Lily said holding her hands up to her side before dropping them. She turned directly toward Harry, and tilted her head just slightly. "Who _are_ you?"

James could only snort. "Bugger me blind, Evans, I already told you. I cloned myself this summer. Sirius was supposed to tell you-"

Whatever it was that James had been about to say was quickly cut off by two new people running into the common room. A bushy haired girl and a redheaded boy. The three of them all spun around, a look of relief swept over Harry's face, and confusion over took Lily's while James just continued to look rather dumbfounded. Yeah, sure the entire school had heard the announcement about the fifteen new students, but neither Lily nor James expected to have run into three of them right away.

Still, Lily looked on, still somewhat confused as to what was going on. She saw the relieved look on Harry's face, and even heard the two new student's breath out what she thought was "Harry", and that settled it. James' twin's name was Harry, at least from what she had gathered. Lily highly doubted that she was wrong, but she could have never been too sure. However, her theory was proven correct by what she heard next.

"Harry, we were worried, you ran off so fast we couldn't tell which way you had gone," the girl said exasperatedly as she threw her arms around, Harry's neck. (Lily was inwardly smirking to herself. She was right) When finally the girl let herself go from Harry she looked at him for a moment before looking past him at Lily and James who were now by this point standing next to each other, staring at the three of them awkwardly. Her eyes widened slightly before she mentally shook herself. "Ginny and Luna are out looking for you, too. Ginny swears that Malfoy has it in for you worse than he did down in Hogsmeade, but Luna swears that he just wants to talk, of course you know how er - loony - she can be."

Harry and the redheaded boy just stared at the girl. They were waiting to see if she had anything else that she wanted to get out within another millisecond or if she had completely talked herself out. Finally, when they were sure that she had talked herself out one of them spoke up. "Bloody hell, Hermione," the redhead said staring amusedly at the girl before him. "Give the guy a chance to breath, will you? It's not like he's been gone _all_ day. It's only been twenty minutes for Merlin's sake. Gone for that long and you make it seem like it's the end of the bloody world."

Hermione spluttered. "It _will_ be one of these days, Ron, if Harry doesn't be more careful - Oh! Um, hello…" She bit the inside of her lip, finally coming to realize that they had begun to bicker right before Lily and James, Harry's future parents. Her cheeks turned a shade of pink before she turned her attention back to Harry, looking at him pointedly. However, Lily took that time to clear her throat, causing the four of them, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and James, to jump.

It was most certainly weird, Lily would admit. First there was a boy who could have very much passed for James' twin, and then there were two other students who seemed to have known James' twin. She couldn't even begin to describe have very awkward she felt at the moment, but decided to pass it off. Best not to show it after all. If anything, James would use that to his advantage and make a scene out of it, and that of course, was something that Lily didn't want. More attention drawn to her. Already people were beginning to turn their attention toward the five of them.

The sixteen year old girl shook her head. "Wait, you - Harry - are you related to James or did he put you up to some kind of…I dunno, charm or something?" Lily asked slowly, ignoring the laughter she heard from James next to her. She made a point of glaring at him and kicking him in the shin. It was childish, but she wasn't about to start yelling at him again, not with more people in the common room now. Oh, why did Potter have to have been in the common room, and not out with his friends somewhere, being the pig heads that they were?

Harry looked blankly at Lily, unsure of what to say. He chanced a glance at James who was now bending over to rub is shin. He hadn't the faintest idea of what he was supposed to say. 'Yeah, I'm related to James, you too. Hi. I'm you son, from the future. Oh, don't worry; you both are dead in my time. Yea, horrific story really. Dad died trying to save Mum and me and Mum died trying to save me from this horrible man whom I'm still trying to destroy, only I've gotten a little off track when we were sent back in time'. Harry swallowed thickly. Right, because he could really say that to them. They'd probably have him locked up in St. Mungo's. Wait - was St. Mungo's even around in their era?

"Er," Harry started to say right as Ron looked at him. He shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, actually, I am." He said, grimacing inwardly. Wonderful. Now all he needed was some sort of story to back him up now. He already looked exactly like James, and he had just gone and admitted that he was related to the younger boy. "I'm a cousin - a distant cousin - from his dads' side."

"Uncle Charles's-?"

"Er, his nephew, twice removed on his wife's side. Name's Harry Potter."

"You have an Uncle Charles, Potter?" Lily asked blankly, as if this was supposed to be some big shocker.

James nodded. "Yeah, on m'dads side. He's my uncle thrice removed or something. I dunno. Mum's side is a lot less complicated. You get to meet my dad's side and you'll wish you hadn't."

"Sounds fun."

"No, not really."

"I was being sarcastic." Lily rolled her eyes before turning her attention back to Harry. Well, he was related to James. That explained why they looked similar. Must have been some recessive gene or something. Harry Potter was apparently James Potters… cousin from through James' dad - or was it through their uncle Charles? Oh, God, purebloods. She would never understand them, and that was probably a very good thing, too. "Potter, I thought you were reading?" She snapped, suddenly remembering her temper with the boy. She turned her attention back to James who had gone back to sitting on the couch, tapping the cover of the book with his finger.

James looked up, a small grin on his face, looking at this point very much like Harry who was just watching the two of them as he stood beside his friends. "I was reading, Evans, you took my book from me, remember?" He sighed dramatically, gesturing to the book on his lap. "I've gone and lost my page."

"Reading?" came a voice from the portrait hole. "Did I hear Potter say _reading_?" Sirius grinned, wearing large brown, square sunglasses. "Oi, James! When did you start to read?" he joked, before walking up beside Lily. In one hand he was holding a bundle of magazines, and he wrapped his other arm around Lily's shoulder. "You really should get a camera. I bet he never reads after this," he sniggered, shaking his head slightly to move a strand of long black hair out of his eyes.

Before Lily even had a chance to say a smart comment to James because of his comment, another voice sounded in the Common Room. She knew the voice all right, most of the population at Hogwarts would recognize the voice. It belonged to James partner in crime, Sirius Black. She turned her gaze towards the source of the voice, only to find him grinning at them while wearing sunglasses. She didn't necessarily dislike Sirius, not nearly as much as she did James, but she still didn't like the way he broke the rules constantly. She turned her attention back onto her book, but no sooner then she did so did she feel an arm on her shoulder.

She visibly tensed at the boy's touch, knowing he was a famous ladies man with the girls at Hogwarts. Not only was he Sirius Black, but he also tended to annoy her to a great extent when flirting with her. She wasn't saying that she didn't like boys or anything; she simply didn't like receiving the attention of a boy that would probably shag anything with two legs. However, even if she wanted to say anything about it, she couldn't find the words. She was a girl after all.

James groaned. "Bugger," he mumbled to himself. He didn't want to look up. He already knew that voice. How could he not? Hell, how could anyone not know that voice? Still he turned his head over his shoulder and sniggered. Sirius was wearing sunglasses. And not just any sunglasses. Goofy looking ones. Oh, lord, what was this world coming to? James grinned. "Toss off, Sirius," he said jokingly with a snigger of his own, watching his friend closely, flipping a page in his book as he did so - luckily there were no hearts with initials on this page, just a bunch of stupid notes that the boys had written in last year during class.

James snorted at the last comment his best mate made. "Right, bet that again and I bet you wont be flying come the first Quidditch match." He grumbled, ruffling his hair a bit looking back over his shoulder slightly before turning back to the two in front of him. He snickered lightly noting the color that had come to Lily's cheeks but other wise shook his head. However, looking back to Sirius he couldn't help but to grin.

"James! Not in front of the lady," Sirius scolded mockingly and grinning, before clapping his hands over Lily's ears. "Her poor virgin ears! You've probably gone and scarred her for life," he added, with a laugh. "That is, if she's a virgin," he darted away from Lily, throwing her a wink in the process. Sirius could be quite vulgar when he wanted to be. But then, boys will be boys. Especially boys fifteen years old.

Sirius looked at James, and quirked an eyebrow playfully. "Is that a threat, Potter?" he said, putting his hands on his hips. "Because I _am_ bigger than you are, not to mention more muscular…" being behind the couch, Sirius wrapped an arm around James' neck, in a play-fighting stance, before ruffling up James' hair, which couldn't possibly get any messier. "You're still as short as ever, Potter. Lily, know any good charms that could make James' grow a few inches?" He laughed, teasing his best friend

"C'mon you, geroff me!" James groaned, shooting sideways after his hair had been ruffled. He sulked in the corner of the couch, crossing his arms over his chest, a small scowl on his face "You're only what, two, three inches taller than me?" He snickered, however he didn't get much time to say anything else before Lily spoke up and his eyebrows shot up once more. "Evans has you there, mate. Best not to ask her for any charms then." Though he was highly amused with the fact that Lily had just stuck up for him, he knew it was just one of those once in a life time moments. "Plus, you're also more of a ponce than I am."

He looked up and gave Lily the once over. "My dear Lily, I do believe you've grown," Sirius said, before taking two large steps so that he could look at her on her other side. "Yes, yes, she's become increasingly more beautiful over the summer, don't you agree, James?" Sirius said, looking over at his friend and winking. Sirius really did like to hear the sound of his own voice.

At that - James actually choked. He had actually been looking at Lily what that was said, and it didn't help that her eyes had instantly darted toward him once it had been said. "The hair still looks fake," James snickered, arching his eyebrows, remembering back to what he and Lily had been fighting about only moments ago. "Full on discussion later on tonight when Peter and Remus are actually around, eh?" Oh, he was sure that they would talk about something alright. Though he highly doubted that it would be Lily, actually that could talk about a wide range of things and still end up finding their way talking about girls, even though by that time Remus and Peter would have tuned Sirius and himself out.

Lily's frown increased, her frustration becoming more visible with each second that passed. Her eyes darted towards James. She didn't want to hear them talk about her as though she wasn't there, or as though she was merely a piece of merchandise that they could all look over and critic. Boys nowadays, they honestly had no manners. She soon pulled her eyes from James, and back onto the boy. "Well, I see you haven't grown up much," she said with a slight pause glaring over at Sirius, before continuing. "You still act like your shoe size rather then your age." She let a smug look cross her face, for she couldn't help it. He deserved it, knowing she hated when he did this, and he knew it would make her angry.

"She's figured you out, mate," James snickered. "Better watch out, I think she's on to you," he grinned casting his gaze to his best friend. It was no secret, the boys acted younger than their age, and probably did more things that they shouldn't do, but again - they've been doing that since their first year pretty much. One summer wasn't going to change all of that. Or so James hoped.

Sirius clapped his hand to his chest. "Oh, Lily, that hurt," he said, moaning before flopping over on the couch, putting his legs in James' lap. "I think you've killed me," he said dramatically, throwing his arm over his eyes. At James' comment, he gave the other boy a light shove with his foot. "I am quite mature for my age, I'll have you know," Sirius said, though even he couldn't supress a snigger at the statement. Sirius? Mature? Never.

Snorting James pushed Sirius' legs off of him, and glance at the other boy before snorting. "Right," he said, unable to hold back a grin. "And I'm the queen of England, and Peter never wets himself, and there's no such thing as ghosts. You know, maybe you're right," James said snickering. Any of the boys mature? That would be a story, the day they all became mature, however it was Remus who was the most mature of the three. All the same however.

Sirius then proceeded to look at the book that was quite noticeably sitting on James' book, and snatched it up. "Charms? No, no, no," Sirius said, before dropping the bundle of magazine's he'd been holding. On the cover was a skimpily clad woman with the word 'Playwizard' in bright bold letters. "Now _there's_ good reading," he grinned, before leaping over the back of the couch and plopping into the seat next to James. "You got any dungbombs? I wanted to get Peter and Remus before they got here."

"OI!" James said, snatching his book back. "I was looking at the pictures, thank you," James said with a frown. Of course he was. However, he simply rolled his eyes when shown the Playwizards. He sniggered to himself. "Better watch it. Peter might see one and wet himself," he said, mockingly. It was always a joke saying that Peter would wet himself over one thing or another. "Sadly, no. Not on me anyway. Half this months supply got wasted on three Slytherins in the music room," he said, pausing. "We may still have some in the dormitory left over for last year though."

"Aah, the pictures," Sirius drawled, sitting up and putting a hand to his chin, stroking it as though he might've had a beard. "Well then, the magazines will be better. They've got plenty of pictures for you to look at, mate," he grinned mischeviously, before lounging back in his seat. "Peter's always wettin' himself," Sirius sniggered, before he turned sombre. "You wasted half a month's supply on three Slytherins?" he said, as though he was about to lecture James, before he broke out in a grin. "Did any of 'em throw up? Half a month's supply - that's gotta cause one helluva stink. Were any of 'em girls?" he asked, only disappointed in the fact that he couldn't have been there to see it.

James snickered before he dug into his pockets, pulling out two dung bombs. Okay, so he lied a bit. He had two on him. "All three of them were girls," he said stretching his arms over his head. "They were gagging like mad, I tell you. Don't blame them. Closed them inside the music room with some of the lit ones." The boy continued, nodding his head, as though he were telling some brilliant story. "Well, at least Peter's actually got something to wet himself over," he snickered, leaning back on the couch. He ruffled his hair, glancing down at the magazines with a small snigger.

Sirius looked over at Lily, remembering Lily was a prefect, and that she was still in the room. "Uh, Lils, you didn't hear that, eh?" he said, letting his sunglasses slide down to the bridge of his nose and winking at her.

Lily frowned as he winked at her, as though she was simply suppose to forget about what they had just said. "Sirius, next time you want to plan these stupid little things with James, don't do it front of me," she snapped, though she wished that they would. Being that if they did, then she could very well stop them before they hurt anyone. "Why would you want to do such a thing anyways?" She questioned, placing her closed book down on her lap once again.

"Oh, c'mon, Evans." James said with a sigh. "It's only Peter and Remus," the boy said, glancing at the girl, leaning forward on his knees again. "I should think they're used to it by now. It's sort of a," he glanced at Sirius before continuing. "Sort of a welcome home thing."

Sirius saluted Lily. "Yes, ma'am," he said, keeping a straight face before dissolving into laughter. "Why? _Why_? Girls, mate, I'll never understand them," he said, looking over at James. "Because it's fun. What do you do for fun? _Read?_ Gossip? Sounds pretty boring to me. Throwing a good stinkbomb in someone's face - now that's _fun._"

Lily began walking away, not caring about their pathetic conversation. They were talking about Slytherins and something James had done. Of course she didn't want to know anymore. Dungbombs and Slytherins, no more needed to be said. She decided not to listen even when she heard Sirius ask her a question, and continued to walk, obviously made with both of them. She was fuming, and she felt the need to punch a hole in the wall or something. However, she wasn't going to truly do that, and continued to make her way up towards her dorm. "Stupid little immature buggers," she muttered as she made her way, before disappearing from view, only her dark red hair trailing behind her. So much for a peaceful afternoon of reading, that sure wasn't going to happen.

"Oi, did you go shopping again, by yourself?" James suddenly asked, taking the sunglasses off of Sirius, looking at them for a moment as though they were some foreign object, and they could go off in his face at any moment before another grin broke out onto his face. "Warned you about that one," he tsked. "Shoulda owled me. Spent my time with the Muggles this summer, and helping Mum around the house," James said scratching the back of his neck. "Speaking of Mum, she almost threw away the map. That crazy thought it was just a bit of parchment - oh look, Evans is leaving." James said bluntly, watching as Lily headed up towards the staircase, and soon enough disappeared.

Sirius smirked to himself and crossed his arms proudly over his chest before breaking out in laughter once more, earning a grin from James. He snatched back his glasses put them back on, letting them slide down to the bridge of his nose. "'Course I went shopping by myself," he snickered, though he was grinning from ear to ear. "James, you idiot, I was there with you - you mum had me help clean the attic. Merlin, all those baby pictures of you? I have one thing to say: Awww, ickle Jamie; so cute!"

James snorted. "That's five words, mate, not one." Sirius waved him off before turning his attention to the other three standing in the common room, just off to the side of him. He turned his head up, not bothering to hide his obvious smirk even as he pushed up his sunglasses. "Oi, James, who are these lot?"

James, of course, took a moment to register what exactly it was that Sirius had ask before he sat up straight. "Right, them lot," he paused, looking up at the three, just as Sirius had done. "That one there, clone boy, is my Uncle Charles' nephew, removed a few times of course, and from what I gathered the other two are… er… Ron and Hermyknee."

Hermione fussed. "It's _Hermione!_"

"Right, Hurminee." James nodded.

"It's Hermione!" Hermione fumed.

"That's what I said!" James said, beaming.

Harry and Ron looked on amusedly. Ron, more in awe of the whole situation. He could see why his mum had told Sirius a few years ago that Harry wasn't James; they were best friends, not to mention James and Harry looked dead on alike, save for the eyes of course. Ron could even see where Harry got his sense of humor from, even if it was a small flicker. Harry, meanwhile was just plain amused. He had already seen his parents and Sirius, Remus, and Peter before - but now he was actually able to interact with them.

When both Harry and Ron were pulled out of their thought its was by Hermione tugging them away by the sleeve of their robes. She was muttering something about finding Ginny and Luna and not wanting to deal with a pair of stuck up Gryffindor boys. Both Harry and Ron cracked a grin before wriggling their arms free of Hermione's grip.

Once safely out of the common room Hermione turned sharply on her heel and face Harry. "Your dad is the most - the most-"

Harry grinned. "I know. He's my dad," he paused before glancing over to Ron who was grinning as well. "And he's bloody brilliant."


	3. Chapter 3

Ginny groaned and let her head fall to the table. It had been two days already, and they weren't getting anywhere. There were fifteen of them, and for the past day all of them had been scattered around the school in awe of the whole situation; Hogwarts in the past. They were in the 1970s. If that wasn't bad, then she didn't know what was. She shared the same views as Hermione - what was so special about being in the past? The school was the same; there were just a bunch of people who were adults in their time as students here. She hit her head against the table once more.

Compared to being in the common room, the Great Hall was probably one of the better places to be. She had a less likely chance of running into the group of boys known as the Marauders. They were loud, and extremely rowdy, she simply didn't see how her brother and Harry were able to put up with them. However, being in the Great Hall also had a downside. The Slytherins. She could already hear them snickering to themselves about something. Ginny didn't need to look up to be able to tell who was all seated over at their table. Two Blacks, a Snape, and a Malfoy. They were talking about the Gryffindors. Once more she hit her head against the table, and groaned quietly to herself.

Thursday, today was Thursday, and she couldn't even find Luna! There were no sixth year classes going on at the moment, and there were plenty of places where that Ravenclaw could have been. Hermione and Ron were off in Potions, and she knew perfectly well where Harry was; spending time with his dad - or as he was known to everyone else for the time being - his cousin. Ginny lifted her head up just in time to hear an explosion of laughter from the Slytherins. She groaned inwardly.

"Don't go to the common room," a voice said just beside Ginny. Two people had sat down beside her. Two people she recognized right off the bat. Lily Evans and Remus Lupin. It was Remus who had spoken first with a half smile on his face as he set his book bag on the table. "James and Sirius are singing, and planning to dress Peter in drag," the boy sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck before pulling out a book, and a scroll of parchment and a quill. Lily did the same. "Causing a riot, those two are."

From beside Remus Lily snorted but other wise shook her head. She had opened her book, flipping through a few of the pages before she took her quill and begun scribbling things down on her scroll of parchment. Every so often she would look back at the book, skimming the page before writing something down again. "You're their friend, Remus," Lily pointed out, not bothering to look up from her work, even as the boy begun to do the same thing. "Don't see why you just can't get them to - stop."

Now it was Ginny's turn to snort as she folded her arms over the table and laid her head down. She hadn't brought out her homework to do. All she had done was got dressed, and left the common room. Still as she listened to the brief exchange of words between Lily and Remus all she could do was shake her head. "Thanks for the warning," she said to Remus who just gave her a half smile before returning to his work. Lily just managed a small smile and a quiet chuckle. They stayed like that for a bit, Lily and Remus doing homework, and Ginny looking as if she were ready to fall asleep. All three of them however had something completely different on the brain.

Ten minutes must have passed before the group of four Slytherins left, and the three Gryffindors all looked up. Ginny muttered something along the lines of 'pureblooded gits' and shook her head. Lily seemed to have agreed with that statement, Remus just looked at the two of them before rubbing the back of his neck. The three of them went into a sort of silence before they began a quiet conversation mainly asking Ginny questions about the school she came from, and some of her friends. And that was exactly when Harry had walked in.

The raven-haired boy had his robes undone, and his hands shoved into the pockets of his trousers. After spending just two days in the past the fourteen other students from the future were having a time telling the two Potter boys apart, and that was a bit of a bad thing. Still, Harry walked blankly over to the Gryffndor table and took a seat across from Ginny. The mood at the table at once changed. Ginny was doing her best to look any where at Ginny, and Harry was looking down at the table.

Remus had yet to look up. "James and Sirius still in the common room?" He asked, scribbling down his name at the top of his parchment. Finally he glanced up as Lily was sticking her parchment back into her bag. Harry nodded his head, and Ginny looked up, studying him before she glanced around the Great Hall. Both of them inhaled, and held their breath for a moment before exhaling, and chancing a glance at each other before looking away once more. Awkward moment achieved? Oh, yes.

Lily stood up, pushing her head hair back. "Right," she said, waiting for Remus to stand up as well. "We've got a Prefects meeting to go to, so I supposed we'll see you later then?" she said, as she slung her bag over her shoulders, Remus has swung his over his shoulder. There was a drone of a monotonous 'bye' from Harry and Ginny before they left, and they left bickering.

Ginny sighed sitting straight up. She glanced at Harry. "We need to get everyone together, Harry," she said quietly, biting the inside of her cheek. "Someone's bound to slip up, and if that happens what do you think will happen in our time, back home?" she asked as she stood up to walk over to the other end of the table, fetching a roll. She took up a seat on that side of the table, bringing her legs up on the bench. She took a bite of the roll before setting it down on a napkin and wrapping her arms around her knees looking over at Harry.

The boy was just staring hard at the table. He knew that they needed to get back to their time, but he didn't want to leave, not yet. Harry slipped his hands under his glasses and pressed the palms of his hands into his eyes in thought. Removing his hands he sighed. None of them knew how it was that they got here. There was no telling how they would be getting back, or how long they would have been gone. It was August back in their time, on the day they left. August 30th, and it was September 3rd when they arrived back in the 1970s. That was the confusing part, too. They had all been in Diagon Alley, and Death Eaters had attacked. Then they ended up in Hogsmeade, the Hogsmeade of the past.

Harry sucked in a breath and let it out. "We're stuck for the moment, you realize," he said, looking over at Ginny who was looking back at him. His stomach knotted and he quickly looked away. "Who'd believe a bunch of teenagers who said they were from the future anyway?"

"We showed up in the middle of Hogsmeade unconscious, Harry, I'm pretty sure they'll believe anything," Ginny replied, looking down at her knees. She shook her head. "Teenagers just don't appear in the middle of the street at night unconscious with wands in their hands. Even in the wizarding world that doesn't happen." By this point Ginny was fighting off the urge to go sit next to Harry and lay her head on his shoulder. They were over, and that was in the past, their past. She shook her head.

"We'll find a way back, Ginny, trust me," Harry said, placing an arm on the table. There were a few others in the Great Hall. A few Ravenclaws, and a few Hufflepuffs. There were even one or two Slytherins. "It's just going to take some time."

Ginny nodded before she stood up, biting her lower lip. Time. Everything took time. "I'm going to go find Luna," she said as she started walking away from the table. However, just as she got to Harry, something over took her. She paused in mid step and turned around. She kissed Harry on the cheek, and then hurried off out of the Great Hall, biting the inside of her cheek.

The boy groaned inwardly to himself before dropping his head on the table with a small thud. He screwed his eyes shut. Why, why was he such an idiot? Just a few words and they would be patched. They would be perfectly normal again.


	4. Chapter 4

"Oh… _bugger_!"

Our dear, loveable James Potter happened to shout. Why you may ask, for a very good reason. He had been walking down the corridor, swinging a Waldens Finest Indoor Pretty Cracker, the biggest and loudest indoor firecracker, around in his hand, and a few dung bombs in his pockets, holding three in his left hand. Along came a first year, whom James hadn't seen. All he heard however was a distant shout of "Incendio," and the next thing he knew was his Waldens Finest had been lit. He groaned loudly before he realized the dung bombs had been hit as well. He gave another groan. The fuses were lit, and he didn't have very much time left.

Quickly threw his Waldens Finest on the floor, and continued to throw his three lit dung bombs around the corridor, a two managing to slip into a room. And that would have been when he realized that if they all went off, and he was found with others in his pocket then he was in for something. So, one by one he lit off his dung bombs, and threw them all down the corridor, some even into various rooms. And that was when it had happen. The very first one that was lit, had got off, and that was right into front of him.

He instantly jumped sideways due to the rather foul odor and stumbled in what would have happened to have been the music room. Rather unfortunate for him an the others in the room, there was another dung bomb just in the door way. James looked down before saying, "Oh buggery," and moved out of the way just in time.

At the sound of the door being opened, and someone having stumbled in four students looked up. Three of them with well mannered scowls on their faces. Pansy Parkinson, Draco Malfoy, and Narcissa Black all stood at once, leaving the lone Gryffindor, whom had happened to have been Ginny to scramble against the wall. The four of them shared the same reaction to the smell that was sure enough seeping into the room.

All the bombs went off and to say that the corridor, and the very room he and three Slytherins, and one Gryffindor were in smelt of pretty spring roses would have been the understatement of the year. It smelt badly of shite of all sorts. "Allo' Snakies," James coughed, as he glanced around, using the sleeve of his shirt to cover his nose, listening as the rest of the bombs went off, going slightly green in the face. "I didn't do that." He said quickly, once he was certain that all the bombs had gone off.

"What do you mean you didn't do that," Narcissa snapped, holding the sleeve to her robes to her nose and mouth. The smell was horrid. "You bloody well did it - you're standing right there!"

The Gryffindor wrinkled his nose again. "What? Did you think I set those off by myself then?" James coughed. "A first year did it, the little bugger. And those were supposed to last me the month!" He groaned. Really, he made it seem as though he just lost all his money down the bath drain. Honestly, that was James for you.

With a rather long wiz and several loud cracklings, and bangs James groaned as he saw a flash of brilliant colors fly by the door. "However, I did do that," he groaned, his nose still covered. "Bugger and I was saving that, too!"

This time it was the other boy who scowled into the crook of his elbow, covering his nose and mouth. He narrowed pale gray on the raven-haired boy. "You did everything," Draco snapped, though his voice was hardly intimidating as it was muffled. "Only an idiot would set off thing like - wait, what the _hell_ was that?" His question was quickly cut off by the sound of two whining girls who were sputtering and coughing into their hands and robes.

"I swear by Merlin, Potter," Narcissa sneered, glancing at her hair. Her eyes widened and she turned her attention back to Harry. "My hair - it smells like-"

"Shite!" Pansy cried, a bit of her own dark hair falling into view. "Its everywhere!"

Ginny, who was plastered against the far left wall, grinned behind her hand in an attempt not to laugh or breathe in those horrid fumes. She glanced at James, unsure at first which of the Potter boys it was. Though his eyes told her exactly which one it was, and she laughed even as the Slytherin girls continued to whine and fret about their hair.

The boy continued to cough through the fumes. His eyes were beginning to water. Oh, that was first! Merlin, he wasn't going to be able to make it back to the Gryffindor common room with out - well, without smelling like a cow to be exact. Rather a cows hind end. James wrinkled his nose. Well, that was a lesson then, wasn't it? Never let dungbombs be seen, first years clearly didn't know what they were doing. However, he rolled his eyes at the three girls that continued to carp with him.

"Come off it already," James said, though his voice slightly muffled through his sleeve. "It washes out - eventually." Well, wasn't that nice! Oh, he loved messing with Slytherin girls. They were all pretty much the same, all worried about their hair, looks, and Merlin forbid their robes! James waved his hand, removing his other from his nose bravely. "Oh it's not that bad! I mean really - Oh, wait, I lied," he choked, quickly covering his nose up again, grinning from behind his sleeve as he couldn't help but to notice the fourth girl at the wall. Well, at least one of them wasn't taking it seriously. Really. And he lost his favorite firecracker! Oh the humanity.

"Oh, the smell," Pansy whined feebly, scrunching her eyes shut.

At that, James couldn't agree more. He had never had light that many dung bombs at once before, and the smell was just getting to him. Oh, Merlin, he was going to wretch, he could just feel it. He pushed the sleeve closer to his nose just now pinching it, gag reflects getting ready to be put to use. "It's not going to get any better with you moaning about it!" James coughed, quickly shutting his mouth as he inhaled the stench.

Oh, this was just disgusting.

"You loathe some annoying little -" Narcissa had been about to say before she soon found herself once again gaining at the fumes in the room. She and Pansy were both choking on the horrible smell, both trying to choke out word directed at James, but every time they begun to speak they would begin to either cough or gag. It wasn't very pleasant.

"Little what? Arse, Gryffindor, boy, cockroach, bug, slug?" The boy listed, his voice muffled.

Pansy, before she had a chance to gather what she was saying, sneered out, "Mudblood!" Ginny looked up, and arched an eyebrow.

James had taken a small step back upon hearing that uproar. His left hand fishing in his back pocket. He grinned behind his sleeve has he grasped something in his pocket. Apparently he hadn't lit all of his dung bombs. There was still one left. Wonderful. He looked up again, at the three girls before him and only blinked. This was really beginning to amuse the boy - despite the awful smell.

He coughed twice before looking back the red facedPansy now lowering his right hand from his nose only to reveal a smirk. "But you see, I can't a _Mudblood_, I'm not a Muggleborn to begin with," James said confidently. "I, ma'am, am a Pureblood," he scoffed mockingly, crossing his arms, the dung bomb safe within his left hand.

Oh, he was going to die in this room. The smell was bad enough - but with more than one Slytherin? Oh, he was going to die, and he hoped it would be because of the stench, not the Slytherins. Oh, that would be just dreadful; James Potter killed by Slytherins before a horrid stench could knock him out. That wouldn't look to good in the papers, could it? Then again, he was sure that the Slytherins would just love to read that one.

"Whatever! You horrible little cockroach," Pansy and Narcissa both shrieked, trying to claw his eyes out, but neither of them dared to move forward in fear of inhaling more of the dungbomb fumes.

James bowed. "Thank you," he said smirking all the same. He was glad, however, that Lily was no where around. Merlin only knows what kind of hell he would get from her. Truth be told, she was the only girl he was actually afraid of. And that was saying something, considering all the people at Hogwarts that he's been known to taunt and prank. He learned his lesson long ago not to do that with Lily. She was brilliant - but scary.

Ginny laughed as the boy talked; she knew he was one of the biggest troublemakers in the school. Lily complained of him often, going on of how he made all the other students' lives terribly dreadful, and he should be hung up by his toes and various things like that.

Pansy let out a moan of indignance. "I am going to smell like poo forever!" Ginny only laughed. Oh. It was priceless, the look on all three of the Slytherins faces. It was just too much.

"Right," James snorted. "And I'm a Muggle."

Ginny edged up against the way, attempting to manuever her way out of the situation. Maybe she could make her escape when James made his exit. She coughed and sputtered; it was a funny prank, even if it wasn't intentional. It smelled awful though.

In the confusion, Ginny had managed to make her way over to James, and tried to hide behind the Gryffindor, nose pinched shut. She herself looked a really gross sort of green, she had inhaled too much of the stench when she was laughing. Ginny hoped she would be able to sneak out with him, she really didn't want to stay there with the Slytherin, especially now that the room was stinky.

"That was cool prank," she whispered. She never, not once figured she'd ever say those words to James Potter.

Blinking once more James looked over his shoulder slightly to look at Ginny. He grinned a bit before replying. "Just a bit too much stink, if you ask me," he said with a small wink. Ginny nodded, though she still thought it was funny. The Slytherin, Pansy and Draco, mainly, would be raving something awful later, but that couldn't be helped now. She hoped her clothes wouldn't stink for a long time. James turned to face the three in front of him once more, now dangling the bomb by the fuse.

"Alright then. You see, a brilliant mastermind, such as myself, never goes anywhere unprepared," He said, gesturing with right hand to the bomb. "Now, the question is; should I waste such a wonderful thing right this moment or not?" James paused, looking at the bomb with a thoughtful look. In the end, however, he took out his wand, and with a small muttered spell lit the bomb, and casually rolled it in front of him. He began walking backwards.

"Got about ten seconds before it goes off," James muttered over his shoulder as he started to move both Ginny and himself out the door, slowly.

Ginny gasped and looked up at James, both her eyebrows arched. "You have got to be kidding me," she hissed at him as she was being moved out of the room and into the hall. "You're insane, you know. Completely insane."

James couldn't help but to agree with that. The smell, while it was dying down, was killing him. Quickly however, after casting a glance to the lit bomb, turned around, taking Ginny by the arm, hauling the two of them outside. Promptly closing the door after, knowing that the bomb was getting ready to go off. And when it did, he took out his own wand, pointing it at himself he cleaned himself up with a quick scouring charm, he continued to do the same to the girl, just incase.

"Dung bombs," He said, placing his wand back into his pocket. "Gotta love them, gotta hate the smell," He said glancing around the hall before looking back to the girl. "Sorry about that by the way."

"Where did you get those? I thought those weren't allowed on school grounds," she asked excitedly. Ginny wasn't one for pranks, well, that was a bit of a lie, considering who her brothers happened to be, but when they were played Slytherins and the like, they were fine by her. She also wasn't one for squealing, but when she got excited, she was a bit unpredictable.

"They aren't. My mum didn't check my trunk before I left for Hogwarts this year. She never does actually," the boy said, trying to think if his mother actually even bother to check his things. "Dung bombs and Waldens Finest Indoor Pretty Cracker's aren't allowed on school grounds. Much less Zonko's isn't allowed to sell them to Hogwarts students. So sad," James said with a sigh as he stuffed his hands into his pockets.

"I'm James by the way, James Potter." He said, with a small grin. Just because he could be an absolute prick didn't mean he was always such. James could actually be quite the charmer, if he wanted that is. But of course he took the route of a trouble maker.

Ginny grinned, brushing her hair behind her shoulder. Well, now she could clearly see where Harry got most of his personality from. It was almost enough to cause her to laugh, luckily she didn't. "I'm Ginny," she said, glancing around the halls. The castle was the same, but something about it was different. "Friend of Harry's." She glanced back at the room they had just gotten out of, thankful they weren't in there anymore.

"I knew you looked familiar," James said with a small grin, however that quickly faltered into a small frown as he glanced at the door. There were still gagging sounds coming from behind it, and he was sure that he had heard some mumblings, but that could have very well just been him. "Seen you with him before, around I think. You going with him?" He asked casually.

Ginny, who was still looking at the door felt heat rising in on her face. She shook her head. "No," she said. "I was last year though."

James sighed dramatically, however it didn't stop a grin from forming on his lips even as his eyes shifted once more to the door. Maybe it was all of the gagging that the girls in there were doing, but it just brought a grin to his face, and a smile to his heart. Oh, he didn't know. And who was he kidding? He did this sort of thing for fun, and when he was simply bored.

James grinned after noticing that Ginny had glanced back at the door. "Me and my friends have been at that sort of stuff since our first year you could say," he said with a shrug. "Never gets old really, and we love testing out new Zonko's products. Bloody brilliant, Zonko's."

Now, Ginny decided, it was time to do a bit of lying while she could, before she got herself into trouble. "My mum doesn't want me going in there," she said with a snort. "Says we don't need another prankster in the family. It's really quite tragic, the story of my life actually."

"So sorry," James said, unable to hold back another grin. "Only child myself, but sometimes its like I have a brother over the summer," He said, tossing Ginny a chocolate frog that he had swiped from Sirius' bag earlier that day. What he was a Chaser after all. He knew how to throw and how to catch. It was in his blood. And the only reason he was a Chaser was because the spot of Seeker had already been taken when he tried out for the house team.

Logical, no?

James frowned ."I'd die if I wasn't allowed there - it's like, my third home you could say," he said with a nod. "My mum would kill me if she knew I was the one that buys most of the things my friends and I use, of course, I'm not the only one who buys. But she'd have my head, says I should be spending my money wisely." He rolled his eyes. He was only sixteen. There were good reasons why he bought what he did! Really.

No, no… really, there were.

"Lucky you," Ginny said, "being an only child I mean." She shut her eyes. It was a lie, she told herself. She loved her brother. This was all for the sake of being in the past. The corners of her lips twitch a bit, a small smile threatening to break loose.

James frowned. He knew what she meant. Sort of. After all, he was friends with Sirius, and Sirius didn't really have the best of families. "Can't stand them most of the time?" He asked, looking at the door carefully, wondering if the bomb had finished. Sure, James could be a total prat, but he didn't like to find himself in the clutches of Slytherins without his friends. It just wasn't any fun.

Looking down at the chocolate frog in her hand Ginny tilted her head to the side slightly. This, she believed, was now the strangest thing that had ever happened to her. Not once did she imagine that she would be talking with - Harry's dad, the teenage Harry's dad of all people. When she realized the conversation had stopped she glanced down at the floor, trying to think of a thing to say. "You're Sirius Black's friend, aren't you?"

Again, James sighed dramatically before grinning widely. "Aye," He started. "Sirius is my best mate, actually," he said with a nod. Sirius Black was indeed James' best friend, even if at times he did become annoyed with some of the other boys antics around the common room, but otherwise enjoyed his company more than most. Who else was he going to rag on Slytherins with? Remus would probably rolls his eyes, and Peter would probably just agree with whatever James said. Or wet himself.


	5. Chapter 5

Sorry for the late update. My mom had her baby this week.I'm a big sis now. Yay. It's a girl, and she's beautiful, but you all probably want to read the chapter, and not hear about the baby!

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"You have _got_ to be kidding me," Ron said, slack jawed.

Luna smiled. "Lovely," she breathed, looking off to the side; a dazed look on her face.

Ron continued to sputter. Seven of them were gathered. That was more then they had been able to get together since they had arrived. But with news such as what they had just learned? The redhead only wished that it was just Hermione, Ginny, Harry, and Luna, and not Pansy and Blaise included. It was too much. Four Gryffindors, two Slytherins, and one Ravenclaw. Certainly there was tension that much was obvious. Still, how they all had managed to sit and not break out in a fighter was all but a wonder in itself.

Of course, it didn't help much that Luna had begun to hum, and overly pleasant smile on her face. Everyone's attention was on her for a moment. The two Slytherins snickered. A sneer had curled onto the dark skinned boys face, and he promptly turn his head away from the batty Ravenclaw girl who seemed to have not a care in the world. Pansy just crossed her arms over her chest, looking pointedly at Harry, her eyes narrowing dangerously - the boy hadn't even noticed until Ginny had kicked his leg in order to get his attention.

Hermione, who by this point, was getting tired of the simpleness of sitting around, waiting for someone to say something, stood up. She gave a glance to everyone present in the room and shook her head, rolling her eyes. "Honestly, it's not the end of the world. We _will_ find a way back home. It's not like we'll be stuck here for forever and a day," she said. Now she begun to pace, looking in deep thought. "I mean logically, if we were stuck here then we would never have existed back in our own time for the past seventeen years - or would it be year? In any case, we wouldn't have existed."

Everyone seemed to have made a point about staring directly at Hermione. There were clearly some times when the girl made absolutely no sense at all, and they still understood her. But the problem still remained: They were stuck in the past with a bunch of people that they should never have been talking to. Oh no, they couldn't have been thrown back two years ago - they had to have been thrown back all the way to the 1970's. It was unnatural, and spooky. Weird and defied all laws of reason. Then again; they were a bunch of witches and wizards. They defied all laws of reasons either way.

Going this far back in time? Now, that just never happened. Or at least it shouldn't have happened.

Pansy shifted in her seat, glancing around to each and every one of them before pursing her lips together. "Not the end of the world, Granger?" She bit out, looking at the bushy haired Gryffindor. "You do realize that _some_ of us actually have a life to tend to, and would rather not have a book shoved up our arse trying to gather information and worthless knowledge?" The Slytherin snickered. The boy beside her shifted and smirked. Everyone in the room was pointedly staring rather dumbfounded at the two of them. Out of the fifteen of the students that had been brought back there were only three Slytherins, and the third of course, wasn't present, which was probably for the better. Merlin only knows what would have happened if the third Slytherin was present.

"I still can't believe it," Ron muttered to himself with a shake of his head. "I'm mean, bloody hell, a spell? A spell is how we got here?" Ginny and Hermione both rolled their eyes, Harry placed his head into his hands, and Luna beamed merrily while Blaise and Pansy just looked at him pointedly.

Blaise snickered. "No, a _flower_ is how we got here, Weasley," the boy sneered sarcastically, crossing his arms over his chest, turning to face the redhead with a look of indifference. "Of course it was it was spell you idiot. You didn't see someone wrap a time turner around the lot of us, did you? Because if you did then by all means; please point us in that persons direction so we'll know who to murder first." There wasn't a hint of sarcasm in the Slytherins boy's voice, only seriousness.

Pansy lifted her chin, and stood up. "If you all are quite done," the girl said, watching as Blaise stood up beside her. "We've got quite a bit to do. Of course, we'll find time to inform Draco about the - situation, if you will." Pansy said, moving toward the door after Blaise. The girl stopped as she was just about to leave the room. She dismissively waved a hand at the group staring after them before leaving the room entirely.

"A spell."

"Ron.." Harry sighed.

"Bloody - a spell."

"Ronald!" Hermione snapped.

"What?"

The four remaining in the room all stared at Ron, as if he had gone and grown a third head. Well, Luna just looked at him oddly, smiling goofily. The Ravenclaw hummed merrily to herself, tilting her head from side to side carelessly, as if she hadn't heard a single word of what had just happened in the past twenty minutes, but of course she had. Ron was still in the bit of shock over the information that he had gain within the few moments of being in the empty classroom with all of the others.

"Come on then," Harry finally sighed as he stood up. There was just too much to be done, and they already had so much to work on; not including their homework. He nudged Ron in the side, before the boy stood up. Hermione placed her hands on her hips and sighed. "We've got class in twenty, we'd better get going. Gin?"

At the sound of Hermione's voice, Ginny looked up and shook her head. "It's fine. I've got a paper to work on in the common room, if James or Sirius aren't in their. The more often they're in there, the less I get done," she said. Ron muttered something to the effect of 'A spell, a bloody spell'. Everyone rolled their eyes, save for Luna who was trying to cross her eyes. Eventually, Harry, Ron and Hermione left the room. Harry was the last to leave, glancing back behind him at Ginny and Luna before closing the door. Ginny slumped back in her seat for a moment before Luna got up and spun around in a circle.

Once Luna had stopped spinning she tugged at a strand of her hair before looking at Ginny. She beamed brightly as she begun to rock back and forth on her heels. "A heart is not a play thing. A heart is not a toy, but if you want yours broken; give it to a boy," she said airily as she continued to rock, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips. "Can't take something from nothing, and not expect to have an empty space in return."

"Luna," Ginny said as she stood up, eyeing the blonde girl. "I didn't understand a word you just said."

"As you shouldn't!"


	6. Chapter 6

...I think, this is gonna be focused mostly around the Marauders as I can't really seem to think about what the others should actually **do**. Never mind that! Here is your sixth chapter people. XD Thanks so much to those of you who read this fic and review it, it means a lot to me. XD

* * *

Sirius was lounging on his bed, eating chocolate frogs, every so often throwing a pillow or two James' way. Eventually he finished off his chocolate frogs and got bored, as he was oft to do. He was even the slightest bit tired. It was amazing, really, the energy Sirius had. He could sleep few hours during the night, and be awake until the wee hours of the next morning. Of course, on the weekends, he slept in until very late.

While Sirius was lounging about on his bed, James was sitting up right on his bed, flipping through an old Quidditch book, eating an Every Flavor Bean every so often, of course he got hit with a pillow once or twice before he ended up finally throwing them back while trying to read and eat his candy at the same time. Even though he had only gotten into the common room moments ago, from doing what he didn't say, he was completely full of energy, do to a cup of coffee he had about twenty minutes ago. Unlike Sirius, when James fell asleep, he really slept, and it was almost impossible to wake him up the next morning.

Sirius suddenly turned into a dog on his bed, showing off. It was what he did. Besides, it was only himself, James, Peter and Remus around anyway. He leapt off his bed, making the floor reverberate as he hit the floor. He was a very large dog, and when stretched out, he took up his entire four-poster bed. Therefore as a dog, he weighed quite a bit. He began to snuffle through Peter's belongings, in search of more chocolate or any other candy. It was handy having a dog's snout sometimes.

When his best friend turned into a dog, James simply laughed and threw a pillow at him before eating two jellybeans at the same time, wrinkling his nose at the strange taste; grass and bubble gum. His eyes quickly scanning the pages of the book, actually reading, James hardly paid attention to anything Sirius was doing at the current moment, be it that he knew full well that he was sniffing out more candy. When James heard a thud from under Sirius bed he rolled his eyes.

Peter certainly enjoyed those evenings; they spent in their dormitory a lot more than midnight strolls around the castle or grounds. Of course, he never failed to set off too when his friends did, but, to be honest, it didn't bring that much enjoyment to him as it seemed to bring to James and Sirius.

Only partly aware of Remus habitual fussing around the room, Peter lay on his stomach on the four-poster bed with his eyes fixed to the open book, its pages' corners marked with various sketches. Rationally enough he always tried not to draw or sketch in front of them. Peter certainly didn't want his sketches hung around the common room.

Casting a quick glance at the large black dog, Peter grinned. "I don't have anything," he muttered when the dog started searching for something, which of course was more candy, through his belongings. He didn't mind such Sirius's behavior and even if he did, the boy would never tell him that. After five years Peter was used to it and didn't even think about things being different. It has become a routine and routine was enjoyable.

Finding nothing (the other boys hid their candy well from Sirius, for this very reason), he crawled under Peter's bed, then back to his own bed. He snuffled around under his own bed, and sneezed when he found an old bag of dung bombs. This caused him to hit his head on the bed springs, making him blink a few times. He groaned and crawled out from under the bed, batting the old bag of dung bombs with his paw. There was no way he was carrying _that_ with his teeth.

He transformed back, and he grinned triumphantly, despite the goose-egg forming on the back of his head. "Ah ha! I knew I had some around here somewhere," he said, grabbing the dung bombs. "And these ones are really old. They'll be perfect for the Slytherins."

"Good job," James said with a grin as he looked up, chewing on a butter flavored bean. "Should use them on those cousins of yours," he snickered, flipping another page in his book, studying the moving picture of a Chaser flying around the posts, dodging what seemed to be a Bludger. He snorted softly when the Chaser in the picture was thrown off his broom due to impact with the Bludger.

Sirius shuddered. His cousins. How he _loathed_ his cousins. Most particularly, Bellatrix. He wasn't sure what it was about her, but she was entirely too creepy. "Yeah, I can see Narcissa's face now," he said with a grin, brushing off the momentary thoughts. He preferred not to picture what Bella would look like if she found out that he'd set off a whole satchel of dung bombs in front of her. He wouldn't be surprised if she cast the Killing Curse on him right then and there.

Then Remus spoke and grabbed Sirius' attention entirely.

"...James, Why are their hearts on this book?"

"What!" Sirius leapt across his bed, towards James' and snatched the book from Remus' hand.

"What?" James choked, immediately looking up. However, it didn't help much. Sirius got to the book first. He groaned, loudly.

"L.E... L.E? Liza Evers? That Ravenclaw girl in seventh year?" Sirius said suspiciously, before it dawned on him. Then he burst into gales of laughter. "Potter! Potter loves Evans!" he said, collapsing onto his bed and clutching his sides from laughter.

Just as he thought. If it was possible, James' face paled and he slumped a bit on his bed. Oh, he wished that he could have just died right there. Why him? Honestly. He should have bought a new Charms book before the term. Oh, he should have. Again, he groaned, throwing yet another pillow at Sirius. "Sod off, will you?" He growled before popping two more jellybeans into his mouth.

"Oh man, Lily Evans. That's rich," Sirius said, before jumping up and snatching James' glasses and put them on his own face, before jumping onto his bed, and turning to Remus'. "Oh, Lily! I have only pretended to hate you since I first laid eyes on you, when the truth is... I... Love... You…" by this time, Sirius was laughing too hard, and with James' glasses on, everything was tilted and blurred, so it wasn't surprising when he slipped and fell off the bed.

It hadn't quite dawned on Peter which one Liza Evers was when Sirius exclaimed through laughter. "Lily?" Peter laughed too, scurrying across the room. Indeed, it was true. A bit confused he looked at James, who seemed to be willing to disappear. All this was too much than he could understand. Out of the four of them Evans seemed to dislike James the most and, honestly, he didn't have the friendliest feelings to her either.

Accompanying Sirius with laughter after the rather good imitation of James, Peter sat down with a flop on the nearest chair. It was far too exciting to come back to his corner, he thought as he broke into another fit of laughter as Sirius fell out of his bed.

"Argh, Padfoot, you ponce!" James groaned, his own vision suddenly blurred due to the oh so kindness of his best friend. He could only glare blindly at the other boy, just barely able to make out his figure without his glasses. Sad, really. He continued to groan, pinching the bridge of his nose, and closing his eyes as they were beginning to hurt without his glasses. "It's not funny!" Oh well, yeah it was. But not to James, not at the moment.

James sniggered when Sirius fell from the bed. "Ponce," he said, slipping off of his bed carefully, snatching back his glasses and quickly putting them back on before he took a seat on his bed once more. "Serves you."

Sirius grinned. "Oooh, does wee ickle Potter have a crush on a Prefect? I never thought I would see the day, and yet, here I am," Sirius said triumphantly, putting his hands on his hips and taking a stance like a super-hero. "Oi, Petey, send this in to the Daily Prophet wouldja? I'm sure it would make headline news. _'James Potter Falls In Love With Arch-Nemesis, Lily Evans_.'"

James scowled. That's all he could do. One more reason why it was probably better to at least have some girl friends, and not just have a bunch of guy friends. However, he groaned once Peter had started laughing as well, only able to send the boy a glare out of the corner of his eye. "Does Potter have a crush on a Prefect," James scoffed, looking darkly at Sirius now. "Oh, what do you think? Peter, if you even think of sending that to the Daily Prophet, so help me I'll spell you to the inside of the Slytherin common room myself." He said, just barely able to get those words out without groaning again. Oh, god, he hated this.

Both Remus and Peter were laughing, which was only egging Sirius on. Poor James, really. He didn't deserve this kind of treatment from his best friend, but it was just the way Sirius was, and always would be. He turned into his dog form after James had snatched his glasses back, and jumped onto the his bed and then leapt from his bed to James' bed, which caused quite the incline in the mattress. He was a big dog. He then gave two loud barks, before turning back into himself, and wrapping an arm around James' neck.

James had just about been ready to say something to Remus before the dog form of Sirius leapt from his own bed on to James', causing the boy to almost topple off. He groaned before giving the dog a shove and glaring at him. He had actually turned away from Sirius before an arm wrapped around his neck. "You bugger," James groaned. "Geroff me."

"Sorry, Prongs," Remus laughed from here he stood. His body racked with laughter. He couldn't help but to feel sorry for his friend. Of course, he had nothing against Lily; she was a nice girl - always willing to help someone out when the need arose. But James and Lily? As far as he saw it, the two of them were always at each others throats, and to have James have a crush on her? It's defied the laws of nature!

Of course, Remus only truly felt sorry for James because of what all Sirius was doing. "Do you really feel that way, mate?" he asked, looking up, trying to wipe the sheepish grin from his face.

Sirius looked over at Remus and then back at James, waiting for an answer. He was curious, too, after all. "Yes, Prongs, do tell," he said, letting go of James before lounging backwards on James' bed, folding his legs at the ankles, and putting his arms under his head. "This is one explanation I'd love to hear. So - when did you first realize you were madly infatuated with Lily? I mean - it's no surprise, we suspected all along, but you were oblivious, of course…" Sirius said with a wide grin on his face. His long hair hung in his eyes, but he casually flicked it out of his eyes.

James scowled at the both of them, watching as Sirius lounged on his bed. He arched an eyebrow. What was it? Party on Potters life and bed night? Oh, how he just wanted to simply disappear at that very moment. Well, actually, he could. Though in all aspects, he would still be there. But hey, he could leave the common room undetected. Invisibility Cloaks were always good for something.

"Mid fourth," the boy said blankly, before he realized what he said. Well, wasn't that smart then? James glanced around the room, looking from Remus to Sirius, and finally to Peter before eyeing Sirius again. "Not one bloody word." James said, addressing all three of the boys. "'Else I spell the cloak and map up." He snickered. Both things of which were currently spelled away in a box in the bottom of his trunk for safe keepings. Typical, typical.

"Hey, Remus, take notes. We're going to have to write a book or something about this," he said, before pausing. "And when I say we, I mean you. I can't write worth shite anyway."

"Oh shut up, Pads," James grumbled shoving Sirius off of his bed. Reclaiming the space that had been taken from him, before reaching behind his pillow and tossing a chocolate frog at his bed. "Eat some chocolate, and keep quite over there."

Sirius only continued to laugh. "Mid fourth," he snickered. "Man, the things your learn about your best friend- Oh, look, it's Clone Boy. Whereya been, eh?" He said glancing up at who had just entered the room. He gave a smirk to Harry's confused look, and quickly scrambled back to his own back fetching the chocolate frog that James had thrown there. "Y'know, you just missed something very exciting."

James scowled. "Oh yes," he said with a roll of his eyes as he crossed his arms over his chest. "The highlight of the evening," he added with a grumble.

Harry, however, couldn't seem to gather what was going on. Yes, he had gathered that he had missed something; but he wasn't sure if he wanted to know what he had missed. The first thing that had slipped out of his mouth was a quiet 'er' before he cleared his throat again. "You didn't dress Peter in drag again, did you?" He asked, glancing at Peter out of the corner of his eyes. The smaller boy squeaked and flushed. Sirius once again exploded with laughter, exclaiming something to the extent of how that would wait until Friday.

Sirius waved his hands dismissively at Harry. "No, no, no," he said, his grin widening all the more as he saw James turn over on his side. "James, as it would seem, has a crush."

Harry shrugged. "Yeah, I know," he said bluntly, amused at the look the boy gave him.

"You knew?" Remus said glancing at Harry as he made his way back to his own bed. Harry shrugged.

"I'm related to him. It's in our blood," Harry replied simply before slipping out of the room again.

Sirius, Remus, and Peter at once exploded in a fit of laughter. James threw a pillow at each and everyone of them.

"Bloody buggers you lot are."


	7. Chapter 7

She was beyond frustrated. Here she was making her way over the whole castle to find the prick Potter because her professor had asked it of her. No, he hadn't asked anyone else in the class, but her. Why had she been the target of her professor's wishes? She figured it was because she was the most likely to not decline the request. Lily was known for wanting to please her teachers, even if it meant having to do their dirty work.

This however was a request she should have turned down.

She hardly knew where to start looking, but figured the best option would be the quidditch pitch. However, after making the long trek out there, he had been nowhere in sight. She knew the library would hardly be a place for James Potter to be; she couldn't even remember a time or place she had seen the boy pick up a book. That is, apart from his quidditch magazines and whatever other ones he happened to have. Not that she really wanted to know that much about the boy.

Finally realizing looking from him was a hopeless case, she made her way back towards the class she had already missed half of. It was his fault too. If only he had came to the bloody class in the first place. Yet oh no, here she was looking for him when she could be in class learning something valuable. Turning a corner to make her way back up a flight of stairs, she came to a halt.

------

James was humming. He was always humming. It was one of the few things that he had picked up on from his mum. She was always humming too, and at the current moment, he was wondering if she was humming right now, and if so what exactly was she humming? James was humming some random annoying song, which was well known to a lot attending the school, had they run it into James for he knew a song that gets on everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves. He loved it. It truly did get on everybody's nerves, and he loved watching as it did so.

It had been one of his favorite pastimes when he was a wee ickle first year. And then he found out that annoying Lily Evans was so much better.

As it was, James was supposed to be in class, History of Magic to be exact. He didn't make it. Once again he had managed to sleep in, though how he managed to sleep in during the time an afternoon class took place was beyond him. He had just laid his head down for a small nap, he even remembered telling Peter to wake him before class started. Looks like Peter failed in doing such a thing. Oh well, he could always get the days notes from Remus…. Along with the assignment as well, and claim the next day to have been ill. Oh yes, typical for James. He meant good. Really, he did. Just, no one ever truly saw that.

James wanted to go take a lap around the Quidditch Pitch before the next class started. So, with his favorite Quidditch book under his arm, his robes undone, and his neck tie hanging loosely around his neck he made his way for the entrance hall, running a hand through his hair every so often, making sure that he would manage to stay awake. Somehow he highly doubted that he would make it to the Pitch. Something was always bound to stop the boy. Or he lost interest. Both would probably happen today. He was too tired to keep track of a single thought.

Finally, upon coming to the top landing of a stair case James hopped down two steps, and took a seat. With a loud yawn he took his Quidditch book out from under his arm and propped it up on his knees before opening it. If there was ever a type of book James actually read it was anything related to Quidditch. It was his favorite sport. It was like his life, only not really. He could always easily get lost in the books and the game, and flying had to be his favorite part. For some odd unexplained reason. However, for some other unexplained reason, James' mind wasn't exactly on his book. His mind was wandering around to a certain redheaded girl whom he loved to annoy.

He hated being a teenager. He hated dealing with these sort of emotions. What was even worse was that the rest of the Marauders now knew too. Oh, James could already see Sirius arching his eyebrows every time he and Lily began to bicker, he could also see the other boy start to laugh as well. Oh this was going to be a long, long year.

"Ow," James muttered, after moving his arm back quickly, forgetting that there was a step being him. "Bugger," He rubbed at his elbow for a moment before he finally looked up, and when he did, he groaned rather loudly, because it was just the thing to do. For it hadn't been a professor who had walked to his sitting place, but a certain Gryffindor Prefect. Oh, lovely.

Prefect's where never his best thing, James had decided. Well, he had decided that back in his first year. He had always done something to get caught by one; never meaning to get caught by one at all, of course. This year, however, was going to be insane. That's all that there was to it. One of his own friends was a prefect, and Lily Evans was a prefect as well. He could have simply murdered himself, only he found that doing that would be just a bit drastic. He was known for causing trouble, not for committing acts of suicide.

However, as he sat on the stairs, staring up into the face of Death, suicide didn't seem like that much of a bad idea. Nothing, in his mind, was worse than the angry wrath of a redhead girl. Namely Lily Evans. Getting up off of the ground at the moment seemed like a very good idea, but he couldn't move. He felt very much like a deer caught in the headlights. Oh, the irony. He groaned inwardly. "Bugger," he groaned again, fighting off the temptation of putting his head into his hands.

Lily narrowed her eyes onto him and stomped over. She wasn't the least bit happy to see the boy, though that really wasn't any different then when she normally saw him. Coming to a stop in front of the boy, she crossed her arms over her chest and looked down at him.

"Where the bloody hell have you been!" She demanded, clearly angry. She hadn't been sitting in class sleeping, she had been taking notes like she was supposed to. Actually paying attention in class was something that she did, unlike James.

Torn between laughing himself to death or making a run for it the boy scrambled up. "Do you want the long story or the short story? Because if you want the long story I suggest you sit down- hang on a moment," James said quickly before pausing to eye the girl. "You cursed. Evans cursed. I think I'm going to faint," he laughed before remembering that he had an angry redhead before him. He snapped his book shut, and glanced behind him. Oh, of all the days that he had to have slept in. Today had to be the day, and by tomorrow he would probably be going home inside of a match box.

Lily, by this time had folded her arms over her chest with her hands clenched into fists. "James Potter - I swear," she hissed under her breath, continuing to glare at the boy. "I'm missing _notes_ because of you!"

James ran a hand through his hair before taking a breath. "Right, so, I was in my bed, yeah? I was sleeping, you know we boys love our sleep. And I slept in. 'Course good ole Pete and Sirius hadn't bothered to wake me up, figured I'd be up by the end of breakfast," he sighed dramatically. He tucked his book under his arm, very tempted to just open it back up, and start reading again. "Well, I woke up. And I woke up late, late for class. So, I decided to get dressed and go to the pitch. Now, as you can see I didn't quite make it to the picth."

The Marauder grinned, slowly inching his way down the stairs, very, very tempted to make a swift run for it. It wouldn't have been a very smart move on his half, he'd admit that much alright, but at least he wouldn't be sent home in a match box. "So, Evans, lovely day, eh? What brings you out of class and into the halls - asking where the hell I've been?"

Amused, James? Oh, yes indeed.

By this point the prefect couldn't help but to stare bewilderedly at the boy in front of her. How he had ever managed to become a Gryffindor in the first place blew her mine. She was more than amazed to learn that he had passed his fourth year. No, she was amazed that he and his group of friends, save for Remus, had made it past their first year. To her utter amazement, however, was that he seemed to be the leader of their so called group of friends. She shook her head as she brought her gaze back down on him.

"Do you plan on going to class then?"

"No."

"And why not?"

"Because Binns is too old."

"Potter, he's a ghost!"

"Yeah? You know, Evans, I _never_ knew that!"

Lily sighed, shaking her head. "Fine. What will get you to class then, Potter?"

From the moment that question had left the girls mouth she knew that she would regret them. For the answer she would get would be one that she would hear for a very, very long time after. And it all started when James smirked, leaning against the wall behind him.

The boy shrugged, still unable to hold back his smirk. "If you go out with me."


	8. Chapter 8

"No."

"C'mon Evans-"

"No, no way."

"But-"

"You're out of you're mind."

"True, but-"

"No, no. A thousand times, Potter, no!"

James frowned, picking up his pace just to catch up with the girl. He wasn't going to drop the subject anytime soon, even if Lily was bent on ignoring it all together. He couldn't help but to snigger. He wasn't sure who was more stubborn; Lily or Sirius. They were probably equally stubborn, not that James would ever tell either of them that, they'd have his head. Well, they would have his head in tiny pieces in a matchbox. That thought made him squirm in step. He made a funny noise as he caught up with Lily, hoping to get her attention. No such luck. He didn't understand girls. He didn't understand Evans. Why did Evans have to be so - so Evans-y? Maybe he could get his cousin and his cousins friends to help. Merlin only knows it would be better to talk with any one besides Sirius. Or Remus. Or hell, even Peter.

All the while lost in this thoughts James hadn't once noticed the direction in which they were going. He had noticed it far too late; he had just walked through the door and glanced wide eyed around him at the several students sitting in desks. He looked at Lily who was staring pointedly at him with hands on her hips. He gave her his best pout before the two of them moved to take their seats. Lily next to a girl in their house named Alice, and James next to Sirius who looked like he was just waking up from a nap. Probably was.

"Traitress!" James hissed off to the side glancing at Lily. "I thought our time in the corridor _meant_ something!" He hissed dramatically, causing Sirius to stir beside him.

Lily put her arms down on the desk and leaned over. "Scandalous!" She exclaimed in a whisper, covering her mouth with her hand. "I'll be sure to tell Black of our recent exploits!" She paused. "He'll be devastated, I'm sure."

Then Sirius regained all sense and was looking at James like a lost little puppy; mostly due to having just officially woken up. Of course, he got right into the mix of things at once, much to James' dismay.

"Scandalous exploits? Evans? No! Lily, how could you? Everyone knows we'd be so good together! You two-bit tart!" Sirius paused, his head still on his arm, he looked from Lily and then to James. "Oi, Prongs, what's she on about?"

James could only stare blankly at his friend before shaking his head. "Go back to sleep, Pads." He said before resting his own head on his arms, looking quite bored. He hated History of Magic. He had been right when he had said that Binns was too old! He's a ghost for heavens sake! See, he'd show Evans, his logic did work and it made perfect sense too. The boy grumbled something into his arm, listening to the sort snores next to him coming from Sirius. Figures. Poor sod was out already. Again.

Remus shifted in his seat next to Peter in front of James and Sirius and turned around, Peter following suit. The werewolf raised an eyebrow glancing back and forth from Lily to James. James was all but laying on top of his favorite Quidditch book, and Lily was actually looking rather sulky as she begun a conversation with Alice. He wrinkled his nose. "You weren't in class," he commented.

"I know," James mumbled.

Remus raised an eyebrow. "Quidditch?"

"Sleeping."

"Ah."

"Lilies are nice."

"Pardon?"

"Nothing, Moony, nothing at all."

That was when Peter began to chuckle and Sirius tried to swat him away while sleeping. The poor boy gave a little "Eep," before backing away from the hand the attempted to bat him away before giving James and Remus a shy smile. "He's in class now, Remus," he squeaked quietly, glancing at James. "Sirius was supposed to wake him -" Sirius gave an indignant snort "- up this morning, y'know." he continued, noticing the look of distain on both Remus and James' faces. He waved his hand at them merrily. "Besides it's not like James actually wanted to-"

"I asked Evans out," James mumbled into his arm. Sirius who was next to him all but jumped out of his seat and fell on the floor laughing for all the class to see.

"You," he wheezed, clutching at his sides before doubling over with another fit of laughter, ignoring the look Professor Binns was giving him. "Y-you asked…You asked Evans out!" Sirius wailed through his laughter.

Both James and Lily turned a red to match their house color and looked pointedly down at their books.

Sirius earned a detention for his sudden outburst.


	9. Chapter 9

The four of them were nestled under one of the trees that were scattered about the grounds of Hogwarts. Each of then had a different book in hand, all looking very much liked they never wanted to see another book again in their lives. Suddenly thankful, however, that it was a Saturday, and that these were the only books that they'd have to look in. However, they could only wish that the rest of them would prop open a book and help them as well. There hadn't been any such luck, and it was all very frustrating. Despite the fact that the image the three of them had under that tree could have been something out of an old photo album; the way they were seated and all, it was nothing short of hard and heavy study time.

Yes, it is very safe to say that these were not Marauders placed under the tree.

With Hermione seated on either side of Ron and Harry Ginny was left laying on her stomach in front of the content trio, kicking her legs idly back and forth in the air as she read her books. Harry and Ron continued to casually slump against the tree as they attempted to keep reading; they honestly had no idea how Hermione put up with the reading. But even they seemed to noticed that the girl was becoming restless, and it probably wasn't because she was tried of reading. She hadn't found anything out that she didn't already know yet.

By the time that Hermione had snapped her book shut it was only to find Harry laying down next to Ginny with one arm thrown over his eyes, and Ron leaning on her shoulder, straining to read his book. Ginny was very much fast asleep on her own book. Hermione made a funny sound of distain as she took in the scene before her. Sure, they were supposed to be studying, well researching, but she didn't think that they had been in the books for this long! She shrugged Ron off of her shoulder, only to get a muffled groan of protest before the boy slumped back against the three. This was getting ridiculous.

"Hermione," Ron groaned, not able to tear his eyes away from the book. "I don't think I can go on. I'm wasting away. Look, look! The book is sucking the soul right out of me! We should just quit while we're ahead. We're doomed to stay locked in the past forev- Oi, when'd they fall asleep? They're allowed to asleep and I'm not?"

Hermione could only stare at Ron. What was she supposed to say to that? It wasn't like she knew that Harry and Ginny fell asleep. She hadn't even heard Harry move to lay down! "You've been hanging around Sirius again, haven't you? You're beginning to sound like him. And the book is _not_ sucking your soul away, Ron. If you'd actually bother to open a book once in awhile while we're here you'd - oh, for the love of Merlin. They dressed Peter in drag!"

That seemed to have woken both Harry and Ginny up because the next thing that Hermione knew, Harry was looking around while attempting to sit up, and Ginny had propped herself up on her elbows. Ron was the first to choke back his laughter as he pointed a finger back to the castle. He fell back against the tree laughing. Harry doubled over laughing while Ginny buried her head into her arms to muffle her laughter. They made it seem like an everyday activity; to see someone dressed in drag and looking like they wanted to vanish off of the face of the earth.

"Harry," Ron wheezed, willing himself to sit up. "I think I see why he became a Death Eater."

Ginny continued to laugh into her arm while Harry was still clutching at his sides. Ron continued.

"I mean, bloody hell, I don't blame him!"

They three were laughing while Hermione just stared pointedly at them, eyeing Peter as he trudged around the grounds. Not far behind him she could see James and Sirius leaning heavily against each other in a bout of laughter. In her opinion they were horrible, horrible boys. Far worse than Fred and George. Figuring that Ginny, Harry, and Ron wouldn't stop laughing for another five minutes she firmly placed her book on the ground before stalking over to the two laughing boys. She didn't know what she was going to do, only that she was going to do something. After all, what was she supposed to say to James Potter and Sirius Black? Wasn't that what Remus was for, attempting to keep the boys in line, despite being a Marauder himself?

Now, James and Sirius weren't so daft as to not notice a very angry Hermione stomping toward them. It had in fact shut them up, causing them to feign innocent. They were horrible actors at that very moment due to their very recent bout of laughter, and still being able to see Pete walk around the grounds in a girls uniform, make up, stockings and heels. Sirius began to hum a cheery old tune while James just placed his hands behind his head, the two of them fighting off twin grins as Hermione finally came to stand in front of them.

"You two are horrible!" She hissed, waving a hand at the both oft hem for emphasis. "How can you do that to your own _friend_?"

James looked affronted. "C'mon, Mione-" Hermione glared at him. "-er, Hermione. It's just a bit of fun. No harm done, not really. Besides, Pete will probably gave a jolly good laugh about this tonight."

"A _jolly good_ laugh," Sirius amended, snickering to himself. "Unless he wets himself, which he probably will from having that jolly good laugh of his."

Hermione crossed her arms, looking up at the two of them expectedly. "You two are the most immature, irresponsible boy I have ever had the misfortune of meeting!" she said exasperatedly before quickly turning back to where she had come from, leaving the two boys looking after her bemusedly.

James shrugged his shoulders, watching her go. He scratched his head, turning to look at Sirius as the other boy began to snicker.

"Reckon she sounds like Evans," Sirius said, stuffing his hands into his robes pocket. "Think we shoulda told her that it was Harry's idea?"

"Don't see what good that would have done," James commented. "Probably would have gotten the poor bloke yelled at, too. Wouldn't fancy seeing her go off on him. It'd be like watching myself get yelled at. Not a very pretty picture, Padfoot."

Sirius snickered again. "Suppose you're right," he said, glancing around for Peter. "OI, PETEY! TIME TO GO STRUT THE CORRDIORS!" he called, smirking triumphantly as the younger boy turned to look at him from the distance. He swore he heard the boy squeak before shuffling their way. "So, Prongs, my boy. Evans agree to go out with you yet?"

"Sod off you bloody wanker."


End file.
